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Battered spouse defense blocked
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- Attorneys for Paula Gutierrez, accused in the slaying of a Tampa police officer, hoped to portray her as a victim of battered spouse syndrome when she goes to trial next month. The defense's theory: Gutierrez was under the fearful influence of boyfriend Nestor DeJesus when the pair robbed a Bank of America branch in South Tampa in July 2001, the crime that culminated in DeJesus gunning down a pursuing officer. But Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett ruled Wednesday that Gutierrez could not introduce evidence of battered spouse syndrome, dealing a significant setback to the defense. Florida law typically allows the syndrome to be introduced only as a defense for abuse victims who kill their abusers, he said. In the Gutierrez case, the defense planned to invoke the syndrome as a defense against the killing of a third party, Officer Lois Marrero. The state argued that was a novel, but inadmissible, approach. The judge agreed: "We're not going there." Although Gutierrez did not fire the shots that killed Marrero, she is charged with first-degree murder because the death happened during the commission of a dangerous crime. She will go to prison for life if convicted. Her trial is scheduled to start May 5. After the July 6, 2001, shooting, police say, Gutierrez grabbed the slain officer's gun. Then she and DeJesus locked themselves inside an apartment. After a four-hour standoff with police, DeJesus killed himself, and Gutierrez surrendered. "She was compelled to do what (DeJesus) instructed her to do," defense attorney DeeAnn Athan told the judge Wednesday. "She was under duress when she went into the bank." Being a battered woman, Athan said, Gutierrez "could see no alternative." Athan cited the Patty Hearst case, in which experts were allowed to testify why Hearst participated in a bank robbery with her kidnappers. A mental health expert was prepared to testify that Gutierrez suffered from battered spouse syndrome. Despite the judge's ruling, the defense still will be able to claim that Gutierrez was under duress when she participated in the bank robbery. For that defense to be successful, the jury must find that a reasonable person, under the same circumstances, would have no alternative.
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