Punta Gorda, Florida

From the Sarasota Herald Tribune of October 5, 2006

Wife who killed spouse freed

Former corrections officer Kathleen Hill killed her husband when she pumped three bullets into his chest.

But she was freed Wednesday to go home to her three children.

The judge said he believed the man she killed, Shawn Hill, sexually tortured and abused her.

In the past 20 years, more defense attorneys have turned to battered spouse syndrome to argue self-defense.

Yet, it's unusual for any convicted killer -- even a woman driven to kill by her tormentor -- to get off without serving prison time, a Stetson University law professor said.

But in the case of Kathleen Hill, doctors for both the defense and the prosecution testified that she suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder because she was a battered wife.

If Hill meets the conditions of her release, she will never see the inside of a prison.

Circuit Judge Frank Porter sentenced her to two years of community control, a form of house arrest, and 28 years of probation. He suspended a 10-year prison term she would serve only if she violates probation.

"I am mindful, very mindful, of the effects of both the defendant's and Shawn Hill's actions as they relate to their children," Porter said. "I'm bothered most by what the children have endured."

At least the oldest one saw his father beat his mother. The children -- ages 4, 11 and 13 -- were home when Kathleen Hill fatally shot her husband Oct. 22, 2004. Suddenly, they were fatherless and faced the possibility of losing their mother, too.

Hill testified Tuesday that she stayed with her husband mainly for the children. Hill, a law enforcement officer who owned two guns and was trained to use them, said she endured years of brutal beatings.

Friends and co-workers testified about her bruises, black eyes and limp.

All three psychiatrists called to the stand testified that she showed the symptoms of battered spouse syndrome.

The consensus of the doctors influenced the prosecutors' decision to offer Hill a plea bargain, Assistant State Attorney Martin Stark said. On Sept. 11, Hill pleaded guilty to manslaughter, instead of second-degree murder as she was charged. As part of the deal, she was promised a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

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