Oakhurst, California

From the Fresno Bee of July 20, 2005

Woman reflects on her acquittal

Oakhurst resident was charged with killing her husband.

Anita Sharen savored the tastes and touches of freedom Tuesday.

It was her first full day back in her mountain home after a Madera County jury found she acted in self-defense in the shooting death of her allegedly abusive husband in January. She had been in Madera County Jail since the shooting.

"I consider this a tragedy," Sharen said. "It should never have happened. It's a very sad event."

Sharen went out to breakfast Tuesday. People hugged her and welcomed her home, she said. And in the afternoon, she nestled on her living room couch with her pet Pekingese, Bernie.

She also considered what she might have done differently when, she says, her husband, George Sharen, started to hit her.

"I could have got help. That's what I regret. I regret that," she said. "Hindsight is 20/20. I should have reported it to my doctor more fully. He would have sent it to the authorities. That was one step I could have taken. I hid it. I hid it very well. I was very embarrassed. I'd never been treated like that."

Her regrets aside, she ended a legal fight for her freedom with great relief and some introspection, while a juror from Madera offered behind-the-scenes perspective on the case. In an e-mail to The Bee, juror Kevin Stansbury said he believed that Anita Sharen "was not in enough immediate danger that she should have shot and killed" her husband. Nevertheless, Stansbury ultimately voted to acquit, and he said Anita Sharen's "character" played "a huge role" in the jury's decision. He elaborated in an interview.

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