BAY ST. LOUIS -- A Hancock County jury deliberated two-and-a-half hours Friday before finding Hope Fitzhugh not guilty of murder or manslaughter in her husband’s fatal stabbing.
She was charged with murder in the March 12, 2009, death of her husband, Gregory Fitzhugh. He was stabbed inside their Lakeshore home.
After hearing the evidence, Circuit Judge Larry Bourgeois instructed the jury to consider whether Hope Fitzhugh was guilty of murder or the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/04/15/3032372/woman-not-guilty-of-husbands-slaying.html#ixzz1Jgwe2upK
She was charged with murder in the March 12, 2009, death of her husband, Gregory Fitzhugh. He was stabbed inside their Lakeshore home.
After hearing the evidence, Circuit Judge Larry Bourgeois instructed the jury to consider whether Hope Fitzhugh was guilty of murder or the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Defense attorney Brian Alexander presented witnesses who said Gregory Fitzhugh was a good man as long as he wasn’t drinking alcohol.
“They said he became vicious when he was drinking,” Alexander said.
“This was a woman in an abusive situation who did what anybody would have done under the circumstances. She should have never been indicted.”
Fitzhugh, whose recorded interviews with a sheriff’s investigator were played in court, said she stabbed her husband after he struck her in the head with his fist.
Their children, then 1½ and 6 years old, were home at the time, and Fitzhugh told detectives she cleaned up the blood so her children wouldn’t have to look at it.
Witnesses for the prosecution testified the woman had been drinking wine before the stabbing and later went to a bar with friends.
Fitzhugh was released from custody later Friday. Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker prosecuted the case.
“They said he became vicious when he was drinking,” Alexander said.
“This was a woman in an abusive situation who did what anybody would have done under the circumstances. She should have never been indicted.”
Fitzhugh, whose recorded interviews with a sheriff’s investigator were played in court, said she stabbed her husband after he struck her in the head with his fist.
Their children, then 1½ and 6 years old, were home at the time, and Fitzhugh told detectives she cleaned up the blood so her children wouldn’t have to look at it.
Witnesses for the prosecution testified the woman had been drinking wine before the stabbing and later went to a bar with friends.
Fitzhugh was released from custody later Friday. Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker prosecuted the case.
Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/04/15/3032372/woman-not-guilty-of-husbands-slaying.html#ixzz1Jgwe2upK
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