opening+statement

On the evening of November 25, 2004, Gavin Wright was shot to death by his wife, Paula Thrombold. The law clearly states in section **OUJI-CR-4-97 that manslaughter in the first degree -defense heat of passion, that there must be adequate provocation, an emotion such as fear, terror, anger, rage, or resentment existed in defendent, that the homicide occured while the passion still existed, and that there was a causal connection between the provocation, the passion, and the homicide.** With the evidence that my teammates and I have compiled, we will prove that Paula Thrombold is not guilty of malicious murder, **citing the above stated**; she was in fear for her life, which is something else we will be able to prove today. Gavin provoked these feelings of terror, fear and began the rage. Gavin did not do this all on the night of November 25, 2004. **We submit h**e had been intentionally building the fear and desperation Paula felt since he and began dating her, 9 years prior. Unfortunately, the events on the evening of November 25, 2004 took a fatal turn when Gavin went on one of his violent rages. Paula had not been home as early from work as she had told Gavin she would be and was therefor unable to recieve a special package that was coming in the mail for him that day. When she phoned Gavin at his workplace, the Cowboy Bar & Grille, to apologize, he was livid. he told her he was coming home and to "get ready." Paula will testify, which will be further proved by autopsy reports, that she could tell Gavin ahd been drinking, a common behavior of his. When he got home and told Paula to reside upstairs, she ran into the closet and locked the door as fact as possible, she was terrified. After pleading for her life, only to be acknowledged by Gavin's hautous laughter, he was able to pick the lock. The gun that Gavin had bought to keep in the house was now in Paula's hand and was her only hope of a lifesaver. The timing and sequence of events on the night of November 25, 2004 correspond with the fact that the passion was still present at the moments the gun was fired. Section OUJI-CR-4-98 defines "adequate provocation" as any improper conduct of the deceased toward the defendent which would effect a sudden heat of passion. Actions which are calculated to provoke an emotional response and ordinarily cause serious violence are recognized as adequate provocation. We will demonstrate to you today how Gavin acted in a very malicious manner and was attempting to provoke an emotional response and/or cause serious injury had Paula not taken the situiation into her own hands. Section OUJI-CR-8-47 Defense of Self-Defense- Battered Women Cases justifies the use of deadly force if that person believed the use of deadly force was necessary to protect herself from death or great bodily harm. The history that Gavin had of physically, emotionally and mentally abusing Paula gave her the right to assume Gavin had violent intentions for his wife that night. Paula unfortunately saw her only means of saving herself was to end the life of her husband. After years of controlling behavior, verbal and physical abuse, statements about Paula like "I'm so angry i could wring her neck," which prosecution witness, Taylor Harris, will tesify that those exact words came out of Gavin Wright's mouth the evening of November 25, 2004, Paula was right to assume she would have been severely injured or even killed had she not taken the means to save herself. Though she had endured years of abuse, we will also prove that she was afraid and unable to leave him and was a victim to Gavin’s charm, another common behavior of a domestic batterer, which we will prove several characteristics of Gavin's are common to those of a domestic batterer. Paula herself will be testifying against her husband, informing you more about the oppression she endured in Gavin's home everyday. She will also testify that she did nothing to provoke such behavior from Gavin. Her actions that led to the argument that ultimately led to Gavin’s death were unintentional and no where near severe enough to justify the way Gavin violently reacted. I ask that you take everything we have to say into strong consideration as we try to portray the immense amount of fear and suffering Paula Thrombold endured during her marriage to Gavin Wright, and I urge an innocent verdict at the closure of this case. Thank You.