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Til Death Do Us Part (2008) Til Death Do Us Part takes the viewer on a journey with incarcerated battered women, as they relate their stories from first falling in love, through the abuse by their spouses, the murder, trial, parole process, and finally, for one woman, freedom. There is a stigma in our society that a woman can leave an abusive relationship at any time. However, the women in this film prove the contrary. They were under the age of 24, isolated from their families and had virtually no money. They all reached a point where there was a final beating in which that survival instinct prevailed. In these final moments, they snapped and killed. The justice system was not set up for women who acted in defense of their lives. Before the O.J. Simpson, trial, there was little accepted evidence, no taped 911 calls, no police reports on domestic violence and therefore, no acceptable proof. Self defense was based on a male model for two men of equal physical build. Self defense was not applicable if a woman armed herself with a kitchen knife or her husband's handgun. These women go through a grueling parole process where they are often approved for parole, only to have the verdict reversed by the Governor. There is a non-profit legal group, The Habeas Project, fighting to retry as many women who qualify under Habeas Corpus as possible. They have a deadline. Four hundred incarcerated women must find affordable legal counsel and go to trial before the year 2010. No one has heard their stories until now... |
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