PORTLAND, Ore. - A Vancouver woman's disturbing 911 call may help in her defense after being accused of beating her husband to death with a hammer, according to one prominent defense attorney.
Donna Williams waited 15 days to alert police to her crime while the body of her husband, Mark, lay in their bed at their home near Northeast 76th Street and 122nd Avenue.
Criminal defense attorney John Henry Hingson doesn’t represent Williams but after listening to her 911 call says it may set the stage for a battered woman defense.
Williams told the 911 dispatcher Wednesday, May 30 she murdered her husband because he abused her.
"He started beating me – gave me a black eye, and I got mad and took a hammer to his head while he was sleeping," she calmly told the dispatcher.
Hingson has handled dozens of domestic violence cases. He says statements to the dispatcher will be key to her defense.
"With all due respect to the person who got killed, this is somewhat of a variation of a homicide defense that kind of originated in Texas," he said. "The SOB deserved killin'."
Family members told KATU News they were stunned by allegations of abuse but some neighbors back up Williams who says the violence went on for years. Williams told the dispatcher that she was abused by her husband for 30 years.
"There's a tremendous amount of sympathy if it's presented properly," Hingson said. "That's what juries sometimes conclude."
Despite the killer's own admission that she killed her husband by beating him to death with a hammer, Hingson’s said his experience tells him how the case could play out.
"She could be a coldblooded murderer and bald-faced liar, but most likely it's true that she was a victim of serial abuse over a very long period of time," he said.
Family members of Williams did not want to comment on the 911 call Monday.
http://yourworldmyviews.net/?p=8283
http://www.katu.com/news/local/Donna-Williams-hammer-attack-911-call-used-as-defense-battered-woman-157090985.html
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