BRENDA
"It's not right that I took a life and I'm not sorry for that and I wish I could take it back. But it happened because I feared for my life and I believed I had no other choice. That's the state of mind I was in at that time after being so physically and mentally abused by this man. and now the death of my husband is one more horror I have to live with the rest of my life. I met Rick when I was sixteen years old. He was good-looking and charming, and he showered me with attention, making me feel beautiful for the first time in my life. I didn't see the warning signs in his possessive behavior; I thought it was cute, I thought it meant he loved me. When he hit me on our wedding day, he cradled me in his arms and begged by forgiveness. His mother said, "It's just the stress of the wedding." And I was a pregnant seventeen-year-old girl, starry-eyed with love and hope for the future. He'd never hurt me again and we'd live happily ever after. And so began a ten-year litany of abuse and pain that was punctuated by the pounding of his fists on my face, my boy, my soul. I left with my three daughters several times, but he'd always track us down. By the final year of our marriage, my life had deteriorate into a nightmare of fear, pain, and despair, and I didn't know how to help myself. "After serving 10 years for killing her husband, she was released from prison in March 1997, becoming the first woman in California to be granted clemency based on battered woman's syndrome. she is now building a new life with her children and continues to be an outspoken advocate on behalf of other abused women. | ||
No One Deserves to be Abused. | ||
Turning Pointe 24 Hour Crisis Line (360) 432-1212
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