Nellie May Madison

Nellie May Madison (1895-1953) was an American woman who was convicted of murder in 1934 for killing her husband. She was the first woman to be sentenced to death in the state of California. Due to public outcry, her sentence was later commuted to life in prison and she was eventually released.

Her case helped garner legitimacy to the abuse defense, a concept virtually unknown at the time, in criminal cases.^[1]

Murder and conviction

On March 24, 1934 at their home in Burbank, California, after repeated spousal abuse episodes by her husband Eric Madison, Nellie Madison pointed a gun at Eric while he was lying in his bed with the intent on threatening him. He quickly reached under the bed for a box of butcher knives and hurled two at her, both of which missed her. As he was reaching for another knife, Nellie shot Eric in the back five times, killing him.

Nellie Madison was later arrested and tried for the murder of her husband. Even before he knew all the facts, Los Angeles County District Attorney Buron Fitts sought the death penalty for Madison. On advice of her lawyers, Madison made no mention of the spousal abuse and claimed she was not at the scene of the murder. As her story was implausible, a jury convicted her and Judge Charles Fricke sentenced her to the death penalty. On appeal, the California Supreme Court upheld the conviction.

Appeal

After sentencing, Madison's ex-husband, whom she was still friends with, urged her to make the spousal abuse episodes public.

When pleading her case to Fricke, he refused to reduce the sentence and dismissed the allegations of domestic violence as "ridiculous."

But soon Madison began receiving public support, including from prominent journalist Aggie Underwood. All jurors who convicted Madison petitioned Governor Frank Merriam to commute the sentence. In September, 1935, Merriam commuted Madison's sentence to life in prison. After she waged a letter-writing campaign from prison to reduce her sentence, Governor Culbert Olson had Madison freed from prison on March 24, 1943, exactly nine years after the murder.

References

1. ^ Cairns, Kathleen A. (2007). The enigma woman: the death sentence of Nellie May Madison. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803211414. 

• Rasmussen, Cecillia (February 4, 2007). "Unwitting pioneer of the battered-woman defense". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then4feb4,0,193083.story?page=1. 

Persondata
Name	Madison, Nellie May
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1895
Place of birth
Date of death	1953
Place of death