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Friday, January 23, 2004
SC reduces death term on battered wife
By Benjamin B. Pulta
THE Supreme Court (SC) has reduced to a prison term the death sentence originally imposed on a woman who killed her abusive husband.
In a 79-page decision, the SC en banc affirmed the conviction of Marivic Genosa but reduced her death sentence to six years in prison since there were two mitigating circumstances.
Genosa was sentenced to death by the Ormoc City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 35.
Two years later, the High Tribunal remanded the case to the lower court to give Genosa the opportunity to prove her "psychological and mental" state when she committed the crime.
It is the first known application of the so-called Battered Wife Syndrome (BWS) defense.
The High Court ruled that "the existence of the syndrome in a relationship does not in itself establish the legal right of the woman to kill her abusive partner. Evidence must still be considered in the context of self-defense."
The SC pointed out that the three main points of self-defense arising from BWS, namely, “each of the phases of the cycle of violence must be proven to have characterized at least two battering episodes; the final acute battering episode preceding the killing must have produced in the battered person's mind an actual fear of an imminent harm from her batterer and an honest belief that she needed to use force in order to save her life at the time of the killing; and the batterer must have posed probable grave harm to the accused based on the history of violence perpetrated by the former against the latter.”
The High Court noted that "the cyclical nature and the severity of the violence inflicted upon Genosa resulted in cumulative provocation, which broke down her psychological resistance and natural self-control."
Citing the testimony of expert witnesses, the SC said the situation was "analogous to an illness that diminished the exercise by appellant of her will power without, however, depriving her of consciousness in her acts."
(January 23, 2004 issue)
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