In re HUDIE JOYCE WALKER PART I
Prior Court of Appeal ruling that defense counsel made a reasonable tactical decision by foregoing defense of "battered woman syndrome" -- now known as "intimate partner battering" -- in favor of claim that defendant, accused of murder of her partner, shot him accidentally, does not preclude habeas corpus relief under Penal Code Sec. 1473.5, which permits such relief where BWS evidence could have been, but was not, presented. Relief under Sec. 1473.5 is appropriate in case where defense counsel's belief that accident and BWS defenses were mutually inconsistent was reasonable under state of law at the time, but later cases made it clear that defendant did not have to testify she intentionally shot victim for expert evidence regarding battering and its psychological effects to be admissible in support of an imperfect self defense theory of voluntary manslaughter, and it was reasonably probable based on evidence as a whole, that jury would have accepted such theory if supporting evidence had been presented.
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