Battered person syndrome is not a separate defense in Georgia. It is evidence a defendant may offer to support a claim of self-defense.
What the Statute Allows
OCGA 16-3-21(d), added in 1993, applies only “[i]n a prosecution for murder or manslaughter” where the defendant raises justification. As Virger v. State, 305 Ga. 281 (2019), sets the provision out, the defendant may then offer relevant evidence of having been “the victim of acts of family violence or child abuse committed by the deceased,” and expert testimony about her state of mind, “in order to establish the defendant’s reasonable belief that the use of force or deadly force was immediately necessary.”
It Is Not a Standalone Defense
In Smith v. State, 268 Ga. 196 (1997), a wife convicted of voluntary manslaughter in her husband’s death argued that the jury should have been charged on the syndrome. The Georgia Supreme Court reaffirmed that it “is not a separate defense, but that evidence of battered person syndrome is relevant in a proper case as a component of justifiable homicide by self-defense.” It then required a modified justification charge, tailored to the defendant’s experience as a battered person, whenever the evidence warrants one and the defendant requests it. The syndrome is not limited to women. Chester v. State, 267 Ga. 9 (1996).
The Limits
The abuser has to be the person killed. In Freeman v. State, 269 Ga. 337 (1998), a man shot his abusive stepfather and his stepfather’s friend. The Georgia Supreme Court held that OCGA 16-3-21(d) “limits the defense to situations in which the defendant was the victim of family violence or child abuse committed by the deceased.” Only the stepfather’s murder conviction was reversed.
Virger adds a second limit. The evidence is not admissible to negate the intent element of a crime or to support some other defense.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!