State v. McManus

OPINION

Chief Justice WILLIAMS,

for the Court.

This is a heinous and horrific case of domestic abuse that resulted in the execution-style murder of a wife and beloved mother of three children. Our decision today marks the first time that this Court has had the opportunity to consider and uphold a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a crime of domestic violence occurring between a husband and wife.

In the early morning hours of June 29, 1996, Kelly McGinity McManus (Kelly), was stabbed six times with an eleven-inch kitchen knife in her own home, in Bonnet Shores,…