While there's no place like home for the holidays, there's no place like prison, either.
After a brief Christmas reunion with two of her daughters, Julia Hazel - a battered woman who killed her husband - will find out whether she'll think about "auld lang syne" behind bars. Although good times past are few for Hazel, she plans to make the most of this season with her children."I bought them Christmas presents with the money I'm saving," Hazel said. "We're going to sit down and open presents and love and hug each other. Then I think we'll go out and make a snowman and then make cookies."
Hazel has rarely seen her 10- and 8-year-old girls since a Feb. 19 night of violence ended in Larry G. Hazel's death. Hazel, 30, plunged a kitchen knife into his chest after he beat her and tried to rape her in their home near Spanish Fork. The girls, from Hazel's first marriage to Matthew J. Butler, are living with their father, who's fighting to retain custody.
Fourth District Court Judge Steven L. Hansen ruled Thursday that the girls can stay with Hazel from 6 p.m. Christmas Day, Dec. 25, to Dec. 30 if the Division of Family Services gives a favorable review to the four-bedroom mobile home in Manti where Hazel lives. She cares for an older woman in the home and also works at a restaurant.
Butler's attorney, Bill Hansen, argued that the two girls should remain with their father. "The girls are in comfortable surroundings," he told the judge, adding they have "turned from little dispossessed adults into happy children again."
Thursday's hearing addressed only the visitation schedule for Christmas; a custody battle still looms.
Hazel's living conditions and prospects for custody, however, could change dramatically if Judge Lynn W. Davis sends her to prison Jan. 4. Hazel admitted to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, in a plea bargain agreement with Utah County prosecutors last month. She faces one to 15 years at the Utah State Prison. But prosecutors will recommend Hazel be sentenced as if the offense were a third-degree felony, which carries a zero to five-year prison term. She was originally charged with first-degree murder.
Immediately after pleading guilty to the lesser charge Nov. 30, Hazel said she wanted to gather her three children - a 6-year-old daughter from another relationship is under the guardianship of Butler's sister - and start her life over. Custody of the girl also will be determined in court.
Although the thought of prison scares Hazel, she's willing to accept it.
"I'm very frightened, but I feel that from my point of view my little girl is still alive," Hazel said. Her youngest daughter was at home during the night of deadly violence. Hazel said she killed her husband to protect herself and the girl. "I did what I had to do in self-defense."
Hazel had intended to claim a controversial psychological disorder, battered woman's syndrome, as a defense for the killing had there been a trial. And although Hazel's case won't be Utah's test case for the battered woman defense, to the dismay of several women's groups, Hazel intends to crusade for abused women.
Her attorney, C. Robert Collins, and investigator Craig W. McLachlan have formed the Utah Association for Battered and Exploited Women. McLachlan said the organization will help women to get out of abusive relationships. Hazel would be a spokeswoman for the group.
"Even if I go to jail, I'm going to help with Utah's efforts to help battered and exploited women," she said.