Abused woman gets 50 yrs for shooting DH

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Abused woman gets 50 yrs for shooting DH
1
Mon, 05-10-2004 - 3:16pm
Here in Conn. a woman is serving 10 yrs. for killing an abusive DH. I thought this was too long.
Woman sentenced to 50 years for shooting husband.
Judge blasts sentencing requirements for abused wife.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/05/10/missing.husband.ap/index.html


An Iowa woman who shot her abusive husband, then left his body in their home for more than a year, was sentenced Monday to 50 years in prison by a judge who said the mandatory sentence was unjust.


Dixie Shanahan, 39, must serve at least 35 years under the state's mandatory sentencing law.


"The mandatory minimum sentencing structure imposed on this court is in my opinion wrong," District Judge Charles Smith said at the sentencing. "It may be legal, but it is wrong."


Smith said Shanahan shot her husband, Scott, after suffering 18 years of abuse. "No human should have to put up with that," the judge said.


Shanahan, who was wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and handcuffs, declined to make a statement in court and displayed no emotion.


She had been charged with first-degree murder, but was convicted of the lesser charge of second-degree murder last month.


Shanahan claimed she acted in self-defense when she killed her husband at the end of three days of beatings. She said he was angry because she was pregnant with their third child and refused to get an abortion.


But prosecutors said Scott Shanahan had gone back to bed and was not an immediate threat when he was killed.


Dixie Shanahan initially told police that her husband left her, but his skeletal remains were found in a spare bedroom more than a year later.

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2003
Mon, 05-10-2004 - 3:21pm
When there is a consistent, long-term pattern of physical abuse, then the abusing individual is ALWAYS a present and immediate threat to those he or she physically abuses. You're right, these sentences are too long, and constitute yet another example of why mandatory minimums (along with zero-tolerance laws) are unacceptable. Far too often they were written to address black & white situations, while in the real world situations are seldom that accomodating.


~mark~