GUILTY TX - Jeffrey Wright, 34, murdered at his Houston home, 13 Jan 2003

[Jeana (DP)]

so, ok, for self defense you guys are saying you only do it enough times to make them "dead" or make them stop? anything beyond that is just "revenge" killing? or killing for other motive?
is that what the prosecution was saying? i think i have seen this one before... woman tied up her hubby like they were going to do it kinky, then she stabbed him, right?
i just couldn't shake the fact that if she was really that abused, how she might have just kept stabbing to make sure he was dead? however, in this case did think she had planned it out, and i wasn;'t too sure he was abusive, ect. but in other cases... i could see an abused woman going for overkill.

The prosecution was saying that she lured him into the bed with sex and then while he was tied up, she stabbed him 196 times. That is not self defense. If he was beating her up and she killed him, that would be a plausible explanation. However, as he was incapacitated, she would be guilty of first degree murder.

 

[Jules]

didn't she make some kind of tourture marks on his privates?

Yes, she made "slashes" around his privates rather than stabs. In other words, she held the knife at a 45 degree angle instead of straight up and down to stab him. The wounds were different in that they were "slices" rather than puncture wounds. That was rather revealing info. I was on the fence until then.

As for him being tied up, I thought the defense did good when they said she had tied his body to a dolly to transport him to the back yard. That seemed plausable to me. However, with the slashes/slices to his privates, he would have had to have been tied at that point on the bed.

I agree she's where she should be. 193 times?!?!?!

 

[mysteriew]

I was watching this on TV and thinking of Stacy Peterson's case. In both cases there were no reports of abuse to police. In both cases family reported knowlege of abuse. Susan is believed to have gotten her hubby in a vulnerable position and then killed him. And Stacy is believed to have been trying to leave when she was killed- and she isn't the first. So perhaps an abused woman's belief that she has no other options is not so outrageous.

I know the law says that unless it is the middle of an attack, it isn't self defense. But when you compare a 100-150 lb. woman with a knife to a 200+ pound man, who do you think will likely end up dead? So fighting back is usually not a good self defense. And usually there isn't time to go get a gun. I guess that is just one part of the battered woman/domestic abuser laws that I have difficulty with. The law says that if there is a possibility of leaving or of getting assistance that the victim must do that. But Kathleen Savio, Bonnie Woodring (she was in a DV shelter when she was murdered) and many others have tried that and ended up dead.

LOL, I don't know how to say what I am thinking. I guess it is that I believe we have to relook at the DV laws. I don't believe that if a woman has ever been abused that doesn't give her an automatic pass to murdering her husband. And I do understand that there will always be women who try to take advantage of any changes in the laws. But I think maybe the problems of battered wife syndrome needs to be more fully studied and utilized by the courts.

 

[White Rain]

Tistan, I think the case you're referring to is that of Susan Wright. She was accused of stabbing her husband 193 times in their home. She claimed to be victim of domestic violence. After stabbing her husband 193 times (while he was tied up during sex I think) she buried his body in their basement or some other part of the house. Anyway, this was featured on 48 Hours Mystery.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/11/48hours/main708111.shtml

This woman was SICK...she stabbed him in his eyes and everything. She is exactly where se belongs.

 

[mysteriew]

didn't she make some kind of tourture marks on his privates?
that was what made me think she was guilty. she tourtured him. but otherwise... i don't see why a psychologically abused woman might not freak out and just keep going... otherwise. i mean just looking at bunch of stab marks vs 1 stab mark doesn't mean that it is ALWAYS a preplanned murder for - revenge, to make someone suffer - right? scared people could in theory use overkill (at least i would think...)

She claimed that he had forced sex on her in the past. And I don't think the prosecution made any distinction as to whether he was alive or not during the knife slashes to the privates. Having read some testimonials of rape victims, I believe I have read where some of them wished they could do the same to their rapists.

 

[Tom'sGirl]

I watched the re-run of the show last night. Hearing of the 193 stab wounds was bad enough BUT what she did following like dumping him in the hole in the patio, cutting away the carpet, painting walls, buying more dirt to throw on top of him was was The fact that all his wounds were on his front side proved he was unable to move.......................this is a very sick woman, and should be locked up.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I agree that they very probably believe that it is self-defense, but as you know, the law does not. Either women need to get out or kill him during an attack. Otherwise, too many more battered women are going to stay too long in prison.

I remember that trial too because of the bed. It sounds like she was really in a rage to stab him so many times. Like she couldn't stop once she got started.

It's about impossible to kill someone way bigger then you during an actual attack. That is probably when the wife ends up dead unless she can grab a gun and be far enough away from the abuser so that he can't grab it away. I think that is why wives wait until they don't feel in danger and then kill the abuser. Getting out doesn't always work Jeana. I know that from my own daughter's experience and murder. Sometimes it comes down to their life or yours...especially if the wife leaves. A controller doesn't always allow the wife to leave and live.

 

[Malapoo]

I don't know if she was abused or not - I have bruises all over all the time and my husband has never laid a finger on me. I work with animals and am a bit of a spaz (run into the edge of the door frame when I'm in a hurry and I bruise EASILY.

But the 193 times got me. Plus he outweighs her by 100 pounds and was supposedly high on cocaine? No way unless he was incapacitated in some way that she gets the knife from him much less keep possession of it. Did anything ever say she was cut other then possibly cuts from her hand sliding on the bloody knife as she stabbed which would be expected?

And the WHOLE 193 thing - yeah I know people freak out, but has ANYONE ever stabbed someone else that many times? When did she say she tied him on the cart to move him - in her very first explanation or after they asked about binding marks? What about the kinky sex? The very first reports didn't mention that I thought but then it came out. This guy was subdued in SOME way or there are stabs all over and maybe more on his back. Someone is stabbing you, you run or if you can't stand up, you turn over and try to ball up or get fetal at least to protect your chest.

She should have shot him. You shoot someone 2-3 times and they're dead and you might get off but 193 stab wounds? Why not 25? 50 MAYBE. The 193 tells me at some point she started having fun. Ok, fun probably isn't the right word, but I just don't think you go that long even if hysterical.

 

[Tom'sGirl]

I don't know if she was abused or not - I have bruises all over all the time and my husband has never laid a finger on me. I work with animals and am a bit of a spaz (run into the edge of the door frame when I'm in a hurry and I bruise EASILY.

But the 193 times got me. Plus he outweighs her by 100 pounds and was supposedly high on cocaine? No way unless he was incapacitated in some way that she gets the knife from him much less keep possession of it. Did anything ever say she was cut other then possibly cuts from her hand sliding on the bloody knife as she stabbed which would be expected?

And the WHOLE 193 thing - yeah I know people freak out, but has ANYONE ever stabbed someone else that many times? When did she say she tied him on the cart to move him - in her very first explanation or after they asked about binding marks? What about the kinky sex? The very first reports didn't mention that I thought but then it came out. This guy was subdued in SOME way or there are stabs all over and maybe more on his back. Someone is stabbing you, you run or if you can't stand up, you turn over and try to ball up or get fetal at least to protect your chest.

She should have shot him. You shoot someone 2-3 times and they're dead and you might get off but 193 stab wounds? Why not 25? 50 MAYBE. The 193 tells me at some point she started having fun. Ok, fun probably isn't the right word, but I just don't think you go that long even if hysterical.

And it was mentioned that her little son came to the bedroom door, she took him back to his room. She had forgotten the original knife she was using and went into the kitchen and go another one to use :doh:

 

[pedinurse]

The prosecution was saying that she lured him into the bed with sex and then while he was tied up, she stabbed him 196 times. That is not self defense. If he was beating her up and she killed him, that would be a plausible explanation. However, as he was incapacitated, she would be guilty of first degree murder.

AHHHH ok

 

[JusticeFever]

I have heard of this case, but never followed.. Yesterday, I caught the movie "The Blue Eyed Butcher" on tv. Someone new came forward, the wife of a NFL player to say she was abused by Susan's husband too, and she won a new appeal and had 5 years taken off her sentence.
The one thing I do remember about the case was that the Prosecutor was fierce
in getting her convicted.

Is there another thread for this case, I would like to read the posts, thanks!

 

[mothwings]

Susan Wright was released on parole.

Killer Susan Wright released on parole from Texas prison | khou.com

How come Court TV hasn't made the trial available in full on their website yet the Vampire Cult trial is available? Not the one with the two prosecutors in bed in court though?

 

[airportwoman]

There's a new Oxygen program about this, featuring the prosecuting attorney, Kelly Siegler. It's also on YouTube.

I'm having trouble finding out what they did for a living; does anyone know? Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's addressed here but I don't feel like doing a deep dive. It also sounds like some variation of "The Burning Bed", and didn't her mother lie on the stand about being in an abusive marriage herself, during the victim impact statement, because her husband was in the room, and she issued a correction after he died?