A battered woman charged with murder in the stabbing death of her husband might admit to a lesser charge as part of a plea bargain in the works between her attorney and Utah County prosecutors.
Julia S. Hazel, 30, is expected to enter a plea to manslaughter next week. A hearing tentatively scheduled for Tuesday morning was postponed so defense attorney C. Robert Collins and deputy county attorney James R. Taylor can complete negotiations. Collins said talks began seriously last Friday."The details of it are still being worked out, so we're really not ready to discuss it," Collins said.
Hazel has testified that she stabbed her husband, Larry G. Hazel, 32, in the chest with a kitchen knife after he repeatedly beat her and tried to rape her Feb. 19 at their home near Spanish Fork.
"He hurt me. I just didn't want him to hurt me anymore. I didn't mean to kill him," Hazel testified in a 4th District Court hearing last Monday. Hazel, a mother of three children, said she was the victim of regular physical, sexual and verbal abuse. She claimed battered woman's syndrome, a relatively new and controversial psychological disorder, as defense.
Collins has received pressure from several women's groups to go to trial, but he said he must do what is in Hazel's best interest. Should the case go to trial Feb. 7 as scheduled, it would mark the first time battered woman's syndrome would be used as a defense.
"It's unfortunate because you enter into a crap shoot whenever you get in front of a jury," he said. "To an average juror, it could go either way."Collins has maintained from the beginning that first-degree murder was an inappropriate charge.
A plea bargain arrangement does not bind the court. Manslaughter carries a one- to 15-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.
Collins said he's hoping for something less. "We think Judge (Lynn W.) Davis will be fair to us on sentencing," he said. Collins said Davis has handled the case well given a host of new legal issues growing out of the case. After hearing psychologists testify for and against the use of battered woman's syndrome, Davis decided to allow it at trial.
Hazel seems to be comfortable with the decision to forgo trial, Collins said. She wept at every hearing and quietly read the Bible during breaks.
"She's suffered from the day this occurred," Collins said.
Collins called spouse abuse a "serious symptom of our society's problems. I guess the days of chivalry are dead."
Putting on a battered woman's syndrome would be expensive for the defense, but Collins said money was not an issue in deciding to pursue a plea bargain.
"I'm doing this on a semi-pro bono basis. I'm doing it because I have an interest in women's rights," he said.