Battered-women's syndrome was the reason Hudie Joyce Walker was granted a new trial by the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, according to Bob Egelko's article in the San Francisco Chronicle. She was charged with the second-degree murder of her husband Thomas Walker and is serving a 19 year sentence up to life. She was granted a new trial because had the court allowed psychiatric testimony on battered-women's syndrome, she might have been convicted of voluntary manslaughter.

The death penalty for the murder of 17-year-old Stephanie Sanchez and her fetus (three months gestation) was given Wednesday in Texas to 23-year-old Adrian Estrada according to an AP story by Elizabeth White. The former youth pastor's death penalty ruling is the first for the death of a fetus in the state. DNA tests showed Estrada was the father of the unborn baby.

"A survey by the Metropolitan Council in Minnesota finds that residents of the Twin Cities are more concerned about crime than any other issue. This marks the first time since the 1990s that crime tops the list of concerns," explained a CBS story reported by Esme Murphy of WCCO TV Minnesota.

A 7-4 vote to abolish the death penalty in Colorado and use the money from death penalty cases to try to solve cold case files was decided Wednesday by a House committee in an AP story by Steven K. Paulson.

Abolishing the death penalty was also the topic in Montana on Wednesday. A story by Daniel Testa of NewWest.net explained that the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from proponents of Harrington's Bill, that would make life in prison without parole the "the most severe punishment available to prosecutors and juries in the state."