She verbally abused him, then accepted. Until 1982, anyone who called premeditated murder self-defense would have been laughed out of court. The woman is said to be a victim of the Battered Woman Syndrome. That sexism is now called the law in 15 states. Massip systematically covered up the murder until she was discovered.
Mothers do, get the baby blues.
As do dads. Were the husband to kill his baby, as Sheryl Lynn did, it is unlikely that we would just treat him for baby blues or Save the Marriage Syndrome. She buried the battered baby in a trash bin. When scavengers found the baby outside her Oceanside, California apartment, she denied she knew him. When the evidence became overwhelming, she confessed.