Woman Gets New Trial

• {Charleston, West Virginia}...The state Supreme Court ruled Monday that Rhonda Kay Stewart be allowed a new trial to present a Battered Woman's Syndrome defense after being convicted of first-degree murder in 2009 after fatally shooting her estranged husband. Fifty-six year old Sammy Stewart was killed in CAMC Memorial Hospital's intensive-care unit. Rhonda Stewart was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years. The 3-2 opinion concludes that the Kanawha Circuit jury should have heard that Stewart had been beaten and abused by Sammy Stewart throughout their 38 year marriage.