State v. Hodges

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Schroeder, C.J.:

This is a criminal action in which Joan Hodges (defendant-appellant) appeals from her conviction by a Wyandotte County jury of voluntary manslaughter (K.S.A. 21-3403) in the shooting of her husband, Harvey Hodges. The defendant claims the trial court erred in refusing to permit expert testimony on the battered woman syndrome and erred in its instructions to the jury on self-defense by using the word “immediate” rather than “imminent.”

At approximately 3:00 a.m. on July 19, 1983, the defendant shot and killed her husband with a 12-gauge…