Pittsburgh, PA: Wife gets 15 to 30 years for killing her husband

Saturday, May 07, 2011
By Vivian Nereim, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A 53-year-old woman pleaded guilty Friday to third-degree murder for fatally shooting her husband in the back after he kicked her out of their Hill District home.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin Sasinoski sentenced Ozie L. Kennedy to 15 to 30 years in prison, a penalty agreed upon by her lawyer and the prosecutor.

Ms. Kennedy was charged with homicide in October 2009 for killing her husband, Samuel Kennedy, 67, found dead outside their apartment in the K. LeRoy Irvis Towers.

Ms. Kennedy told detectives that her husband had frequently physically abused her and had kicked her out of the apartment before, according to testimony from her preliminary hearing. On Oct. 21, 2009, after Mr. Kennedy ordered her out, she stole a gun from a friend's home and returned the next day to retrieve belongings, she told detectives.

While she was there, her husband yelled at her, shoved her into a wall and went to the kitchen, where she heard him opening drawers, she said.

Though Ms. Kennedy told detectives she fired the gun at her husband when her finger slipped, a forensic investigator found that "the pressure needed to pull that trigger was not consistent with an accidental firing," according to Assistant District Attorney Michael Sullivan.

Ms. Kennedy also pleaded guilty Friday to carrying a firearm without a license.

Lawyer Lisa Phillips told Judge Sasinoski that her client, who has seven adult children, had cooperated with police and showed remorse.

"She told police she was praying to God in her mind that he would forgive her for what she had done," Ms. Phillips said.

Ms. Kennedy appeared in court in a blue turtleneck, tears streaming down her face as she entered her plea. She told the judge she was taking psychiatric medication and felt slightly muddled, but understood the proceeding. When Judge Sasinoski asked Ms. Kennedy if she wanted to say anything else, she declined.

Vivian Nereim: vnereim@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1413.


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