8 - Commentary on Commonwealth v. Blache

Summary

This opinion is a crucial part of the problematic foundation of the law concerning for the admissibility of evidence of battered woman’s syndrome in cases of self-defense. The court denied the defendant’s appeal for her manslaughter conviction because she killed her husband while he was sleeping. The reasoning of the court made it difficult, if not impossible, for defendants in the state to argue self-defense based upon long-term physical and emotional abuse resulting in battered woman’s syndrome.