Opinion ID: 686521
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Battered Spouse Syndrome

Text: 27 As her final point on appeal, Anderson contends that the state trial court denied her due process by refusing to allow expert testimony and a jury instruction on whether Anderson's actions constituted self-defense for purposes of the statutorily defined Battered Spouse Syndrome defense. 4 Prior to trial, Anderson filed a notice that evidence of Battered Spouse Syndrome would be offered. Subsequently, the State filed a Motion in Limine requesting, among other things, that no evidence that Anderson suffered from Battered Spouse Syndrome be admitted until Anderson had satisfied the prima facie elements of self-defense. The trial court initially sustained the State's motion to the extent it ... [sought] to exclude anyone from mentioning that [Anderson] suffered from Battered Spouse or Battered Woman Syndrome until such time as self-defense is injected into the case. State v. Anderson, No. CR187-4F (Cir.Ct.Mo. Dec. 24, 1987) (Memorandum Opinion and Order). 28 The issue again arose at the jury selection phase upon appellant's request to be allowed to voir dire the jury regarding the issue of Battered Spouse Syndrome. Anderson then made a formal offer of proof, consisting of the testimony of a court-appointed psychologist, Dr. Margaret Harlan. Dr. Harlan testified that Anderson was, in fact, suffering from the Syndrome. After hearing Dr. Harlan's testimony and the arguments presented by both sides as to the testimony's admissibility, the trial court modified its earlier order. The court decided to allow references to the Battered Spouse Syndrome during voir dire and during any other stage of the trial, but only as evidence of diminished mental capacity (by which to negate the mens rea element), and not as an affirmative defense. Tr. at 203-04. 29 Because Dr. Harlan was permitted to characterize Lana Anderson as suffering from Battered Spouse Syndrome, Anderson's complaint essentially boils down to a claim that the trial court denied her due process by failing to issue a self-defense instruction to the jury. 5 In response to this claim at the state level, the Missouri Court of Appeals concluded that the defendant did not make a prima facia [sic] showing from the evidence of the elements of self-defense justifying the use of deadly force. The literal reading of Sec. 563.033 prohibits the battered spouse syndrome where the defendant has not been able to raise the issue of self-defense. Anderson, 785 S.W.2d at 600. The court noted that Anderson had been looking for someone to kill her husband for over three months prior to the murder and that this in no way could be classified as traditional self-defense under Missouri law. Id. 30 Anderson asks us, however, to ignore the Missouri court's analysis of Missouri statutory and decisional law, reevaluate the Battered Spouse Syndrome provision and the case law interpreting it, and arrive at a different conclusion. Our review of the Missouri court's decision is limited to whether its interpretation of Missouri law violated Anderson's fundamental right to a fair trial; otherwise we are bound by the state court's interpretation. Estelle, 502 U.S. at 67-69, 112 S.Ct. at 480. Concluding, as the district court did, that Anderson's due process rights were not violated, we also reject this contention.