In The News

Lawyers: Defense must prove lethal force justified
By Jessica Fargen
Boston Herald Health & Medical Reporter
Tuesday, April 10, 2007

In order to find that a Cape Cod doctor killed her abusive husband in self-defense, as her legal team will likely argue, a jury must believe that the force she used was equal to that inflicted by her attacker, attorneys said.

“Generally if somebody is attacking you with fists, you wouldn’t be allowed to pull out a gun and shoot them,” said Randy Chapman, president-elect of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “However, if the person, based on the savageness of the attack, is fearful that they could be killed, then they’d be entitled to use lethal force.”

Dr. Ann Gryboski, a Cape Cod doctor, mother and grandmother, is charged with killing her husband after an argument in their Barnstable home on Easter Sunday. When police showed up, Gryboski’s face was bruised and beaten and she allegedly told police she had killed her husband after suffering years of abuse.

Drew Segadelli, a defense attorney who practices on Cape Cod, said it is sometimes difficult to convince a jury that a defendant’s use of deadly force is justified.

“That’s why you need the backdrop of the history of the two,” he said. “Is there a history of domestic violence? Is there medication? Is there past police involvement?”

He said it speaks volumes that Gryboski was held on $50,000 cash bail when facing such serious charges.

“The nature of the charges and potential penalty normally would keep people held,” he said.

Mary R. Lauby, executive director Jane Doe Inc., said she expects domestic violence homicide rates to go up as prevention funding is cut. She said cuts over the past few years have crippled programs such as Jane Doe Inc.

“What we used to be able to do isn’t happening anymore and it’s starting to show,” she said.