Women's Studies 2270A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Bertha Wilson, Admissible Evidence, Material Issue

• School: Western University
• Department: Women's Studies
• Course: Women's Studies 2270A/B
• Professor: Tyler Totten

Document Summary

Week 3: reading cases from a feminist perspective. Appellant = battered women who killed her common law partner by shooting him in the back of the head. Happened after they got in a fight, he said he would kill her if she didn"t kill him first (she was fearful of her life) Jury acquitted the appellant, verdict was overturned by a majority of the manitoba court of. Issue: whether the evidence of the psychiatrist should have been before the court at all and whether, if it should, the trial judge"s instructions with respect to it were adequate . Using a psychiatrist/expert in court can assist the jury in dispelling myths about battered women (i. e. they like to be beaten, they weren"t as abused as they claim, etc. ) Expert testimony can assist the jury in assessing the reasonableness of the wife"s belief that killer her partner was the only option she had if she wanted to live.