A mother convicted of murder after the perpetrator killed their child may be released

The California Supreme Court overturned a Central Valley woman’s 2018 murder conviction in the death of her 2-month-old son, ruling Monday that the law often imposes an unfair double standard on victims of domestic violence over their children’s deaths.

A court ordered the woman, Brittney Collins, to express reluctance, and domestic violence experts said the ruling was an important step toward fairer treatment of mothers under the law.

Court records show a Kern County jury convicted Collins after her boyfriend, Matthew Norwood, fatally attacked their son, Abel, in a methamphetamine-fueled rage.

Although it was Norwood who struck Abel against the wall or floor of their trailer in Tehachapi, breaking his arm, leg and ribs, rupturing his liver and fracturing his skull, local authorities argued that Collins was legally responsible for failing to comply with his duties, according to court documents. . protect him.

“The mother is the one taking care of the baby,” court records show detectives told Collins after the incident. “A mother is a person who protects her child. Normal?”

Prosecutors argued that Collins knew Norwood was dangerous because he abused her throughout her pregnancy, choking her, kneeling her in the stomach, slamming her head against a wall and pushing her to the ground in an attempt to cause a stillbirth. According to court records, when Collins was asked how her boyfriend could be so violent with the infant, she replied, “He’s choking me, so why wouldn’t he choke the baby?”

Upon conviction, the trial court sentenced Collins to 15 years to life. In her first attempt to overturn the conviction, the appeals court said she knew Abel would be moody the day after his two-month vaccinations and should have anticipated Norwood’s fatal outburst in response.

However, the Supreme Court took a different stance on the evidence, relying largely on new research on the dynamics family violencehis prevalence among women convicted of murder and murder and “criminalization of motherhood” under “failure to protect” laws across the United States

“There is no evidence that Collins knew with substantial certainty that Norwood intended (to kill Abel),” Judge Kelli M. Evans wrote in her decision. “Collins (and her grandmother) were under the impression that Norwood would dress up and feed Abel as he had done before.”

The continued abuse of Norwood – he had a previous conviction for domestic abuse – would have made Collins fully aware of the danger he posed to her if she tried to intervene, the judge said.

“The problem is using the fact that a person has experienced intimate partner violence to hold that person criminally responsible for their partner’s behavior,” Evans wrote.

Academic researchers have identified hundreds of California women incarcerated for murder or manslaughter in intimate partner violence cases.

Andrea N. Cimino, co-author of the Stanford Law Criminal Justice Center’s 2024 report, cited in a recent case by Justice Goodwin H. Liu, said the law’s “lack of protection” “unfairly targets women,” especially harassment victims such as like Collins.

Cimino asked, “Why was she charged for the act she did?”

The Stanford study identified many other similar cases in which women were found responsible for the deaths of children, even if they were not present at the time of the killing or actively tried to stop the act. Some were unable to defend their children because they were beaten or choked unconscious by the same attacker.

Like Collins, who was in her early 20s when her son was murdered, many victims of violence also depend on the men who abused them and their families – for housing, money and food. Court documents say Collins had no way to force Norwood to leave the Willow Springs trailer park where they lived with her grandmother, or no way to escape him after he drained their accounts.

She also almost died during Abel’s emergency cesarean section, after which she developed a serious infection. Although she feared her father might molest him, she relied on Norwood to help care for her child while she recovered, according to appeals court records.

Experts say this dynamic is common in violent relationships that end in death. However, they are still not well enshrined in law or clearly understood by the legal system – experts hope this ruling could change.

“These are the kinds of cases we’re seeing more and more often,” said Professor David A. Sklansky of Stanford Law School. “The court used this case as an opportunity to provide guidance” rather than strike down the law entirely.

While the decision does not invalidate the failure to protect homicide or reject the underlying legal principle, it shows how often the law is used unfairly, the professor said.

“Assumptions about what Collins should have done, based on outdated, gendered views about the role of the mother – versus the role of the father – in caring for the child, are not appropriate in determining the mother’s liability for murder resulting from failure to protect.” Evans wrote.

“Prosecutors and courts must ensure that this type of gender bias does not impact our criminal justice system.”