State v. Norman
Citation: 378 S.E.2d 8 (N.C. 1989)
Facts
Judy Norman killed her husband while he slept after enduring years of severe, systematic abuse including beatings, sexual abuse, and being forced to perform degrading acts. On the day of the killing, her husband had beaten her and she had attempted suicide. Expert testimony on battered woman syndrome was introduced. She shot him in the head while he was asleep, not actively attacking her.
Issue
Whether a defendant who kills a sleeping, non-threatening spouse may claim perfect self-defense based on battered woman syndrome, specifically whether the imminence requirement is satisfied when there is no immediate threat of harm at the moment of the killing.
Holding
The North Carolina Supreme Court held that Norman was not entitled to a perfect self-defense instruction because the imminence requirement was not met — the husband was asleep and posed no imminent threat at the moment of the killing.
Rule
Traditional self-defense requires an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm. A reasonable belief in the necessity of deadly force requires that the threat be immediate; a non-imminent, even if inevitable, threat does not satisfy this element.
Significance
Norman is the leading case exploring the tension between the imminence requirement and battered woman syndrome. It raises fundamental questions about whether traditional self-defense doctrine adequately accounts for the situation of abuse victims who cannot leave and face ongoing danger. Many jurisdictions have reformed their laws in response to cases like this.