The state filed a motion to exclude the defense's claim of Battered Spouse Syndrome, after taking depositions of both the state's psychiatric expert (Dr. Werner) and the defense's psychiatric expert (Dr. Harper) who both interviewed Sarah about what happened. The motion includes two details from the doctors' depositions that were new (to me, perhaps I'd missed them earlier):
- "At the time of his death, the decedent was only 103 lbs. and had a blood alcohol level of .138g/dL."
- "The Defendant shook the suitcase. She lost control and the suitcase flipped. She hit the decedent’s fingertips with the wooden baseball bat that was in the room."
This sums up why the state is seeking to exclude the Battered Spouse Syndrome claim (BBM for emphasis):
"The Defendant’s testimony is that she intentionally zipped the suitcase out of levity and while kidding around with the decedent during a friendly game of hide and seek. Then, when the decedent informed her that he could not breathe, she intentionally decided, out of anger, to make him feel like he’s trapped in there for a couple of minutes while she beat and shook the suitcase and hit his hand with a baseball bat. This is aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and false imprisonment. She stated that she flipped the suitcase right side up, saw that the decedent could get two fingertips through an opening, and she went upstairs to bed believing he would be able to get out in a couple of minutes. She had no intention to kill him, no intention to leave him trapped inside of the suitcase, and she did not even comprehend that he could die from this.
The Defendant is thus still saying that the decedent’s death was an accident—and she is not entitled to an instruction on self-defense or to supplant a self-defense case with reputation evidence, specific instances of past violence, or Battered Spouse Syndrome evidence."
The state adds: "The State acknowledges that
the Defendant is entitled to change her story yet again, so if the Court does not exclude this evidence now, the Defendant should be barred from mentioning Battered Spouse Syndrome evidence until the Defendant testifies to something that is a justifiable use of deadly force."