Published: July 16, 2008 03:31 am ShareThisPrintThis
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Defense: Murder suspect was in constant fear
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
DANVERS - Kathie DeFelice lived in fear, the kind of fear "you can taste in your mouth," for the seven years she spent with William Olsen Jr., her lawyer told jurors yesterday.
During their time together, Olsen knocked out a tooth and broke her arm and sexually abused her; he subjected her to constant humiliation and insults; and, over and over again, he threatened to kill her, defense lawyer Edward Hayden said during his opening statement in DeFelice's murder trial yesterday.
The years of abuse led DeFelice to develop "battered women's syndrome," said the lawyer. And on the night she killed him, she was in fear for her life and acting in self-defense, he said.
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall acknowledged that "there were moments of true ugliness" in the couple's relationship and that Olsen should not have been at DeFelice's Lynn apartment on the night of Oct. 30, 2006 - a domestic restraining order barred him from contact with her.
But in the days before the slaying, DeFelice had made many calls to Olsen - her cell phone records showed more than five hours' worth of calls to Olsen's Danvers apartment between Oct. 25 and 30.
The contents of those calls is unknown, and the prosecutor didn't offer a motive but told jurors that when DeFelice "plunged the knife into William Olsen's chest, that was first-degree murder."
A jury of seven women and seven men began hearing evidence yesterday in the case against DeFelice, a former legal secretary and single mother whose life entered a downward spiral in the late 1990s, not long before she met Olsen, a housepainter.
The relationship was troubled and the troubles were well-documented: five restraining orders obtained against Olsen by DeFelice and three domestic abuse charges brought against Olsen, then dismissed after DeFelice stopped cooperating with prosecutors.
The two began dating in April 1998, Hayden said, and it was a month into the relationship that the abuse began.
She didn't leave, Hayden said, "because she was weak and she was vulnerable."
'Nowhere to go'
Olsen would "promise he wouldn't do it again, and he did do it again and again, usually when he drank, and he drank a lot," Hayden said.
She moved in with him, Hayden said, because she had nowhere else to go.
As the abuse escalated, "she was too embarrassed to tell anyone," Hayden said.
"He abused her in order to control her, to control her body, to control her money and to control her life," Hayden said, as DeFelice, 48, wept.
When DeFelice found out she was pregnant, "he told her to have an abortion," Hayden said. Though she wanted the child, she obeyed him, he said.
When Olsen told her she should kill herself, DeFelice attempted suicide, Hayden said.
When Olsen told her not to go to court and not to cooperate with prosecutors, she obeyed him, the lawyer said.
She left a few times, but always returned, the lawyer said. "She couldn't make it on her own."
"She walked on eggshells for seven years because of what he did to her," Hayden said. And living with that fear, he said, "is going to affect your mind."
Battered women's syndrome is defined in part as a lack of self-respect and self-esteem, emotional dependence on the abuser, and "it causes people to do things that are not in their best interest," Hayden said.
A knife in the heart
On the night Olsen died, both DeFelice and Olsen had been drinking - DeFelice admitted to drinking a bottle of wine and two beers.
"He was still a batterer; she was still a victim," Hayden said. But DeFelice made another attempt to end the relationship that night.
"She tells him something he doesn't want to hear," Hayden said. "She tells him to stay away and to not contact her family."
"She got the look from him," Hayden said. "She had seen that look. She knew a beating was right around the corner."
DeFelice told her lawyer that Olsen whispered, "I'm going to have to kill you," then put his arm around her throat and squeezed. She said she struggled to pull his arm away, then spotted a kitchen knife on the coffee table and grabbed it.
She jabbed the knife upward and into his chest, hitting his heart, the lawyer said.
MacDougall said Olsen bled to death within minutes.
"The defendant plunged that knife into his heart and then she left," MacDougall said.
But DeFelice didn't call 911.
Instead, MacDougall told jurors, she walked 21/2 miles, from her Union Street apartment to Vinnin Square in Swampscott, where she called Lynn police from a pay phone. She used the department's nonemergency number.
'Check my home'
DeFelice was wearing just a red and black sundress and cowboy boots on that cold fall night and had red scratchlike marks on her neck, a cut on her forehead and some bruises.
Even when Swampscott police officers arrived, it took awhile for her to tell them to check on Olsen, Patrolman Todd Pierce testified.
"You need to check my home," DeFelice told former Swampscott Patrolman Thomas Wrenn. When he asked why, she told him, "I think I hurt him real bad," Sgt. Jonathan Locke testified. "I stabbed him with a knife."
Lynn police went to the apartment, which was locked. Patrolman Edward Monahan said he kicked in the door and found Olsen sitting on a sofa, his legs spread out straight and his head and torso slumped over. It was clear he was dead.
Members of both Olsen's and DeFelice's families were in court yesterday. The two families greeted each other with hugs.
0
Defense: Murder suspect was in constant fear
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
DANVERS - Kathie DeFelice lived in fear, the kind of fear "you can taste in your mouth," for the seven years she spent with William Olsen Jr., her lawyer told jurors yesterday.
During their time together, Olsen knocked out a tooth and broke her arm and sexually abused her; he subjected her to constant humiliation and insults; and, over and over again, he threatened to kill her, defense lawyer Edward Hayden said during his opening statement in DeFelice's murder trial yesterday.
The years of abuse led DeFelice to develop "battered women's syndrome," said the lawyer. And on the night she killed him, she was in fear for her life and acting in self-defense, he said.
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall acknowledged that "there were moments of true ugliness" in the couple's relationship and that Olsen should not have been at DeFelice's Lynn apartment on the night of Oct. 30, 2006 - a domestic restraining order barred him from contact with her.
But in the days before the slaying, DeFelice had made many calls to Olsen - her cell phone records showed more than five hours' worth of calls to Olsen's Danvers apartment between Oct. 25 and 30.
The contents of those calls is unknown, and the prosecutor didn't offer a motive but told jurors that when DeFelice "plunged the knife into William Olsen's chest, that was first-degree murder."
A jury of seven women and seven men began hearing evidence yesterday in the case against DeFelice, a former legal secretary and single mother whose life entered a downward spiral in the late 1990s, not long before she met Olsen, a housepainter.
The relationship was troubled and the troubles were well-documented: five restraining orders obtained against Olsen by DeFelice and three domestic abuse charges brought against Olsen, then dismissed after DeFelice stopped cooperating with prosecutors.
The two began dating in April 1998, Hayden said, and it was a month into the relationship that the abuse began.
She didn't leave, Hayden said, "because she was weak and she was vulnerable."
'Nowhere to go'
Olsen would "promise he wouldn't do it again, and he did do it again and again, usually when he drank, and he drank a lot," Hayden said.
She moved in with him, Hayden said, because she had nowhere else to go.
As the abuse escalated, "she was too embarrassed to tell anyone," Hayden said.
"He abused her in order to control her, to control her body, to control her money and to control her life," Hayden said, as DeFelice, 48, wept.
When DeFelice found out she was pregnant, "he told her to have an abortion," Hayden said. Though she wanted the child, she obeyed him, he said.
When Olsen told her she should kill herself, DeFelice attempted suicide, Hayden said.
When Olsen told her not to go to court and not to cooperate with prosecutors, she obeyed him, the lawyer said.
She left a few times, but always returned, the lawyer said. "She couldn't make it on her own."
"She walked on eggshells for seven years because of what he did to her," Hayden said. And living with that fear, he said, "is going to affect your mind."
Battered women's syndrome is defined in part as a lack of self-respect and self-esteem, emotional dependence on the abuser, and "it causes people to do things that are not in their best interest," Hayden said.
A knife in the heart
On the night Olsen died, both DeFelice and Olsen had been drinking - DeFelice admitted to drinking a bottle of wine and two beers.
"He was still a batterer; she was still a victim," Hayden said. But DeFelice made another attempt to end the relationship that night.
"She tells him something he doesn't want to hear," Hayden said. "She tells him to stay away and to not contact her family."
"She got the look from him," Hayden said. "She had seen that look. She knew a beating was right around the corner."
DeFelice told her lawyer that Olsen whispered, "I'm going to have to kill you," then put his arm around her throat and squeezed. She said she struggled to pull his arm away, then spotted a kitchen knife on the coffee table and grabbed it.
She jabbed the knife upward and into his chest, hitting his heart, the lawyer said.
MacDougall said Olsen bled to death within minutes.
"The defendant plunged that knife into his heart and then she left," MacDougall said.
But DeFelice didn't call 911.
Instead, MacDougall told jurors, she walked 21/2 miles, from her Union Street apartment to Vinnin Square in Swampscott, where she called Lynn police from a pay phone. She used the department's nonemergency number.
'Check my home'
DeFelice was wearing just a red and black sundress and cowboy boots on that cold fall night and had red scratchlike marks on her neck, a cut on her forehead and some bruises.
Even when Swampscott police officers arrived, it took awhile for her to tell them to check on Olsen, Patrolman Todd Pierce testified.
"You need to check my home," DeFelice told former Swampscott Patrolman Thomas Wrenn. When he asked why, she told him, "I think I hurt him real bad," Sgt. Jonathan Locke testified. "I stabbed him with a knife."
Lynn police went to the apartment, which was locked. Patrolman Edward Monahan said he kicked in the door and found Olsen sitting on a sofa, his legs spread out straight and his head and torso slumped over. It was clear he was dead.
Members of both Olsen's and DeFelice's families were in court yesterday. The two families greeted each other with hugs.
