Pre-Trial Victory for the Defense in the Donna Matthews Case

Edited 5-19

Kenosha---In a ruling issued Friday, the woman who killed her ex-boyfriend in a plot hatched thousands of miles away in Hawaii will be allowed to claim self-defense.

In a victory for the defense, Judge Jody Meiers said "minimally sufficient" grounds existed to allow attorneys for Donna Matthews to use battered woman syndrome as a defense. But Meiers cautioned that her ruling is subject to refinement, and she warned the defense to steer clear in its opening statement of making any factual claims that it knows can't be substantiated. Meiers was particularly leery of some claims made by the defense over what Matthews knew about prior relationships between the victim and other women and the timeline.  

Matthews is accused of the Independence Day 2016 killing of Michael Gayan, a man the defense argues was so incessant in his harassing and threatening behavior against Matthews and her family that Matthews felt she had little choice but to kill him. 

The prosecution argues that Gayan posed no imminent threat and that a claim of self-defense is not warranted.

The trial is scheduled to begin June 25th. Meiers is expected to rule a few days earlier on additional motions.

-0-