Commonwealth v. Sands

A jury convicted the defendant, Victoria Shelton Sands, of the first degree murder of her husband, Thomas Lee Sands, and of the *726use of a firearm in the commission of murder. The Court of Appeals of Virginia, finding that the trial court erred in refusing to give the defendant’s requested jury instruction on self-defense, reversed the convictions and remanded the case for a new trial. Sands v. Commonwealth, 33 Va. App. 669, 682, 536 S.E.2d 461, 467 (2000). This appeal by the Commonwealth followed. Although the defendant had suffered considerable physical abuse at the hands of her husband…