Murder seaman trial

It was the "grand finale of all fights," she said. He had found out about the condo and accused her of stealing money from him, she said. He threatened her with a kitchen knife. She panicked and ran into the garage. He shoved her. She fell. When her husband came at her again, she said, she grabbed the first thing her hand found: the hatchet. She swung the hatchet and hit him on the head. Struck unconscious, he fell on top of her. She reached for the knife, which she testified was on the garage floor.

You're not making a rational choice at that point…That feeling of being overpowered, the heaviness of the body on top of me, I perceived that as a continuing attack when in reality, he was already dead. Seaman said she doesn't remember stabbing her husband with a knife, or how she managed to get to work after she killed him. I can see myself in my classroom looking down at my hand that is bleeding.

I have a recollection of going back home at lunchtime, in a panic. The mind finds ways to protect itself from the reality it just can't face. But when she went back home, she had to face it: her husband's body, lifeless on the garage floor. I just couldn't. Seaman rolled the body in a tarp and put it in her car. She purchased cleaning supplies. Prosecutors showed the jury surveillance video of her at Home Depot after the murder, shoplifting a second hatchet and then returning it with the receipt from the first — a ploy, prosecutors said, to cover her tracks.

There's no doubt about it. She planned on murdering him. Perhaps they would have been less skeptical, McDonald said, if they had been allowed to hear a domestic violence expert explain Seaman's behavior. But they didn't. State law limited critical testimony by Dr. Lenore Walker , the clinical forensic psychologist and expert on domestic violence who coined the now well-known phrase "battered woman syndrome.

At trial, Dr. Walker testified for the defense on the psychological and physical condition of victims of prolonged abuse. Battered woman syndrome is often used to aid the criminal defense of women accused of killing intimate partners who say they were victims of domestic abuse. Walker was not allowed, however, to connect battered woman syndrome to Seaman's behavior or state of mind.

Seaman," Dr. Walker said. I don't care what race he is. Justin Su found his mother's body on Sept. The victim is a distant relative of the founder of Halliburton, the international energy and equipment company.

Her husband, Nan-Yao Su, an entomology professor, was at work, according to an arrest affidavit. Resiles' DNA was found on the knife used to stab her to death and on her green bathrobe belt found inside the house.

The defense argued at trial that the DNA match was a result of evidence contamination. Resiles has a lengthy rap sheet, including for burglaries, records show. Nothing about Resiles' case has been straightforward. In , he escaped from custody while in court, leading police on a six-day manhunt. He is also charged with trying to manufacture a bogus alibi that would place him in Georgia at the time of the slaying.

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By Geoff Ziezulewicz. Sep 18, Coast Guard. Accused of murder, Coast Guard seaman headed back to court-martial Questions continue to swirl about what happened on Alaska's Amaknak Island 11 months ago. By Carl Prine. About Geoff Ziezulewicz.