State v. Daws
Ohio Court of Appeals
662 N.E.2d 805 (1994)
- Written by Tammy Boggs, JD
Facts
Susan Daws (defendant) was charged by the state (plaintiff) with murdering her former husband, Dwayne Daws. Trial evidence showed that Dwayne was extremely physically abusive toward Susan throughout their marriage. Even after Susan and Dwayne divorced, they still lived together. One evening, during a struggle, Dwayne lunged at Susan, and Susan shot and killed him. Susan claimed that she shot Dwayne in self-defense and requested that the jury be instructed on battered-woman syndrome (BWS). Susan’s proposed instruction required the jury to consider whether she was “in fear” at the time of the homicide due to BWS, and the instruction provided a specific legal standard for self-defense if the jury found that she suffered from BWS. Further, the proposed instruction stated that a battered woman “may reasonably believe [a use of] force is necessary at a threshold lower” than someone who did not suffer from BWS. The trial court rejected the proposed instruction, and Susan was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Susan appealed, assigning various errors to the trial court, including its refusal to give her proposed instruction.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Wolff, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
