Nancy Seaman

Other details

Nancy Seaman was born on May 13, 1952. She was a teacher at Longacre Elementary School.

Nancy Seaman was convicted of first-degree murder in 2005 for killing her husband with a hatchet. She argued that she killed her husband in self-defense although prosecutors alleged that the murder was premeditated.

Background

Nancy Ann Donofrio met her husband Bob Seaman in 1972 and they married a year later. Bob Seaman worked at Ford Motor Company while Nancy stayed home. In 1979, Nancy and Bob welcomed their first son Jeff, followed by another son Greg in 1981. In 1995, she began working as an elementary schoolteacher.

Nancy Seaman described an early incident of spousal abuse shortly into the marriage, in which her drunken husband attempted to push her out of a moving car.

Nancy Seaman claimed that other incidents of physical abuse occurred sporadically, but intensified after her husband lost his job at Ford Motor Company. She stated: "Bob would shove. That's what he liked to do, shove and push against walls. Most of my bruisings were either that he would grab me by an article of clothing or an arm. He would squeeze my arm and push me against the wall. Sometimes I'd get knocked down."

Nancy Seaman’s younger son Greg stated that he saw his father physically and mentally abuse his mother, while her older son Jeff denied that any abuse ever occurred.

The offence

By 2004, Nancy and Bob Seaman were planning to divorce. The couple lived on different floors of their home.

Nancy Seaman stated that on the morning of May 10, 2004, after Bob had been away for the weekend, an argument ensued over her moving out; she claimed her husband was holding a kitchen knife, became enraged, and started chasing her into their garage.

Nancy Seaman claimed that she grabbed an axe in the garage and struck her husband with it at least 20 times.

Prosecutors alleged a different version of events, stating that Nancy ambushed her husband in their kitchen with the axe, then dragged his body into the garage where she stabbed him with a knife and beat him with a sledgehammer. Prosecutors alleged that the murder was premeditated.

Investigation

A relative of Bob’s informed police that Bob was missing. When police went to question Nancy Seaman, they found Bob’s body wrapped in a tarp with duct tape in the back of her Ford Explorer. Police also found the knife that was used to stab Bob to death inside the tarp.

Police found that just a day before the killing, video surveillance captured Nancy Seaman purchasing the hatchet at the Home Depot. Nancy Seaman said it was used to cut down a stump in their front yard.

Police stated that the following day Nancy Seaman returned to Home Depot and purchased duct tape, the tarp, bleach, and other cleaning products.

Police stated that a third trip to Home Depot revealed that Nancy Seaman shoplifted a hatchet and then attempted to return it with the receipt she received after purchasing the first hatchet.

Nancy Seaman went into school that day after she failed to find a substitute teacher.

Nancy Seaman was arrested by police on the Wednesday following the murder.

Arrest

When she was arrested, Nancy Seaman told police: "it was an accident ... he was beating me."

Trial

Nancy Seaman was formally charged with first-degree murder on the Friday following the murder. She pled not guilty.

Six months after the murder on November 29, 2004, Nancy Seaman’s trial began. She spent the last six months in the Oakland County Jail.

Prosecutor Lisa Ortleib-Gorcyca alleged that Nancy Seaman killed her husband out of rage. Ortleib-Gorcyca stated how Nancy was angry because she planned to leave her husband and he was about to leave her first.

Ortleib-Gorcyca also stated that Nancy Seaman believed her husband was having an affair with a woman named Julie Dumbleton, though prosecutors alleged this was not the case.

Ortleib-Gorcyca stated that after a marital fight Nancy went straight to Home Depot where she purchased the hatchet she would use to kill her husband.

Nancy Seaman testified in her own defense on December 7, 2004, describing the violent struggle that ended in Bob’s death. She said she and Bob got into: "the grand finale of all fights" on May 10 because she planned to leave.

Lenore Walker testified as an expert in battered-woman syndrome. Walker stated: "A lot of what you want to explain by your own common sense doesn't make sense in a domestic violence situation, (because) fear takes over" and later said: "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think she was a battered woman who acted in self-defense," and after she was asked about testimony restrictions, she stated: "It was the defense's only defense" and: "Reasonable efforts to argue his client's case required defense counsel to attempt to introduce as much favorable testimony regarding battered-spouse syndrome as allowed. and: Additionally, Walker stated that she was surprised by restrictions because she claimed she had not encountered them in hundreds of trials in other states.

Nancy Seaman’s defense counsel was Lawrence Kaluzny, and Todd Kaluzny was mentioned in connection with preparing for her case.

Nancy Seaman was convicted of first-degree, premeditated murder, which in Michigan carried an automatic life sentence.

Sentencing

Following the first-degree conviction, trial judge John McDonald reduced the conviction to second-degree murder, citing a lack of evidence to support a first-degree murder conviction.

The decision was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the jury’s verdict was reinstated.

Nancy Seaman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on January 24, 2005.

Nancy Seaman read a statement before sentencing and called the jury’s guilty verdict “a miscarriage of justice” and “a tragic mistake.” She also said: "I did not intend or plan to kill my husband," and: "I fought like my life depended on it because it did." She added: "If I didn’t kill him, he would have killed me. That’s how it usually ends for abused women."

The judge described the case as: "the most troubling, tragic and sad" he had seen in his 12 years on the bench.

The judge stated: "I don’t doubt for a minute that you were physically and emotionally abused. I don’t think the jury doubted it," and also stated: "But he said the jurors did not believe the abuse was so severe that it excused killing her husband."

The judge encouraged Nancy Seaman: "before it’s too late." The judge also stated: "I feel pity for you, and I feel pity for your family."

Prosecutors said Nancy Seaman took steps to cover up her crime, including wrapping the body in a tarp and painting the walls and bleaching the floor of the garage. Prosecutors said she shoplifted another hatchet and returned it to Home Depot with her original receipt.

Appeals

After state court appeals were exhausted, Nancy Seaman petitioned for a new trial in federal court.

On November 4, 2010, her conviction was overturned by United States federal judge Bernard A. Friedman. The overturning was based on the basis that her defense attorney were not fully able to develop their theory of battered woman syndrome. Friedman turned aside much of Seaman’s arguments about constitutional rights but was persuaded that the defense attorney could have done more.

Friedman stated: He said jurors could have had a different opinion about guilt if they had heard more. Friedman also stated: "The prosecution did not present overwhelming evidence ... of first