If you’ve been following our blog in recent months, you may be familiar with the name Stephanie Clark. As we detailed in past blogs, Clark was convicted of murder after a jury decided that her self-defense theory didn’t meet the needed threshold, as the jury had been instructed that the definition of “imminent threat” meant that there was an “immediate threat” on her life.
Appelman Law Firm’s very own Eric Doolittle challenged those jury instructions, and the appellate court agreed. In their decision, the appellate court wrote, “the jury could have found that Clark was in imminent danger of great bodily harm, even if such danger was not immediate,” a term they said “obliterates the nature of the buildup of terror and fear.”
As a result of this ruling, Clark’s murder conviction was thrown out, and she will soon make her same case before a different jury with a more clearly defined definition of “imminent threat.”
Star-Trib Profile
Stephanie Clark was released from prison last week, and her story was recently featured in a Star-Tribune profile. You can check out the full story here, which goes into greater detail about the events leading up to the death of her boyfriend and the tireless work by her legal team to help overturn what they believed to be a faulty conviction.
Eric Doolittle previously spoke about his views on Clark’s situation and how the judge led the jury down the wrong path with his definition of “imminent.”
“This is about a survivor of horrific domestic abuse who did what she did so she and her son would survive. The issue is jury instructions, and the judge not tailoring those instructions to the unique set of circumstances. Jury instructions must be tailored to the unique facts of each case.
In this case that means taking into account the fear and perceptions of a person subjected to the type of physical, mental and emotional abuse that Ms. Clark suffered. It means understanding and applying the dynamics of what it means to be a battered woman. By taking a rigid and robotic stance, i.e. Imminent means “immediate,” he did in fact place his thumb upon the scale of justice.
Clark is currently out on $250,000 bail with conditions, but she’s not a flight risk. She knows that she has the support of her family, her legal team and hordes of women’s advocacy groups who want to see justice served.
“She understand this case is being followed by domestic advocacy groups,” said Doolittle. “She wants to counsel people who have been through domestic abuse … Her only path to freedom is a trial.”
We will continue to provide updates on Clark’s journey and the new trial she’ll face, but we believe the jury will get it right this time around. Stay tuned for further updates, and if you need help with a legal issue of your own, reach out to the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
