Opinion ID: 1988843
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Self-Defense And The Battered Child Syndrome

Text: In essence, what led the panel majority astray was its belief that trying to fit the Battered Spouse Syndrome and Battered Child Syndrome into the framework of traditional self-defense analysis ... is akin to trying to fit the proverbial square peg into a round hole. The panel majority attempted to resolve that perceived dilemma by effectively repealing the well-established requirement of self-defense that there be some contemporaneous overt act or threat by the victim, sufficient to instill in the defendant an honest, even if unreasonable and erroneous, subjective belief of imminent death or serious bodily injury that required the deadly response undertaken by the defendant. It equated the statutory application of the battered spouse syndrome doctrine, notwithstanding evidence that the defendant was the first aggressor, with the notion that the doctrine, as to both spouses and children, applied as well when there was no contemporaneous act or threat which even the defendant regarded as presenting an imminent danger of harm. In that regard, the panel majority seemed to hold that syndrome evidence was admissible whenever a defendant contends that he or she suffered from Battered Child Syndrome as a result of the past course of conduct of the parental figure who is the victim of the crime for which the defendant was charged. (Emphasis added). The battered spouse or child syndrome is not inherently inconsistent with the traditional definition or elements of self-defense. It does not necessarily present the situation of a square peg and a round hole but, where applicable, merely requires a more careful and sophisticated look at the notion of imminent threat and what constitutes aggression, of understanding that certain conduct that might not be regarded as imminently dangerous by the public at large can cause someone who has been repeatedly subjected to and hurt by that conduct before to honestly, even if unreasonably, regard it as imminently threatening. If, with that subjective belief, the defendant acts aggressively in defense, the defendant may be able to show that, even though the first apparent aggressor, he/ she was responding in self-defense to an honestly perceived imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. The syndrome, when applied in a proper setting, can thus, depending on the circumstances, support both the subjective honesty of the defendant's perception of imminent harm and the objective reasonableness of such a perception. There is no inconsistency when the syndrome is used in that limited way. If extended beyond that, however, as the Court of Special Appeals effectively did, it then does become detached from the recognized defense of self-defense and assumes the status of a separate, independent defense to murder, manslaughter, maiming, or assault that we do not believe was intended by the Legislature in enacting § 10-916 and that we are not prepared to accept as part of our common law. In analyzing the issue, we need first to look at the elements of perfect and imperfect self-defense, then to examine the nature and contour of the battered spouse and child syndromes, as they developed in the psychological, medical, and legal literature and as the former was adopted by the General Assembly in § 10-916, and finally, to see how syndrome evidence and the elements of self-defense can fit together. The ultimate question in this case, of course, is whether there was a sufficient basis for the syndrome, in either the statutory or a common law form, to apply.