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COLUMNIST
PHYLLIS CHESLER
The Dead Man
Is Not on Trial"
A 20-year-to-life sentence shocked
Sheila Ryan DeLuca.
t's almost as if people expect men
to rape, beat, and murder women
and children. No one's surprised
•when they do, and society tends
not to punish them too harshly, if
at all. But we don't expect women to kill, not
even in self-defense, and when they do, watch
out! The judicial system reacts as if Western civilization's
gonna totter and crumble if even one
member of the so-called superior/inferior sex
gets away with killing one violent man in selfdefense.
If you're a woman who has killed a white man
in self-defense—whether you're a police officer,
like Sheila Ryan DeLuca, or a severely battered
wife, like Jayne Stamen—chances are, your story
won't be believed. The jury probably won't be
permitted to hear about the
dead man's history of violence
toward you, or toward
other women and children.
As lawyers and judges love
to say: "The dead man is not
on trial, he's not here to
defend himself, we can't prejudice
the jury against him."
So the jury remains in the
dark, even if the murdered
man previously kidnapped
and attempted to rape a
teenage girl or killed a man
(Larry Quigley) in a brawl (as
in DeLuca's case); even if he
repeatedly, and documentably,
beat her, placed
loaded weapons to her head,
shoved shotguns up her vagina,
and constantly threatened to kill both her and
her family (as in Stamen's case).The evidence of
a man's previous crimes against female human
beings is presumed too "prejudicial;" the "rules
of evidence" won't allow it.
We need to rewrite the rules.
Sheila Ryan DeLuca's case has haunted me for
years, not because her case is unique (unfortunately,
it is not), but because I knew women
who'd known her. Sheila had already served 10
years of her 20-years-to-life sentence for murder
when, for the first time, I was told that she was
willing to talk to the press and to enlist support
for a clemency campaign. In July, I went up to
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester
County, New York to speak to her.
Sheila had a soft, not a tough, demeanor. She's
a "good girl": middle class, law-abiding, a former
nun, a retired police officer, an athlete. She
seemed utterly sincere, almost naive. No guile
here. No fantasies of salvation through media
coverage either. She was friendly, warm, mature,
grave, filled with unspoken sorrow. And shame
and terror, still.
Newspaper accounts of her trial identified
Sheila as a "Black Widow Killer," not as a former
nun or police officer. (Her abductor and rapist,
Robert Bissett, was described as a "fireman.")
She was portrayed by Bronx district attorneys
Mario Merola and Anthony J. Schepis as being
on a "partying spree," luring the younger Bissett
into having sex with her, and then killing him.
"She got what she wanted," Schepis sneered at
the trial. "What did Bissett want with a 42-yearold,
heavyset blonde woman when he's got his
girlfriend What does she want with a 28-yearold
good looking fireman" She was portrayed as
if she was a murderous man, someone who
might routinely kill members of the opposite sex
after having sex with them because they're all
"evil temptresses, dirty whores."
On April 18,1984, the jury found Sheila guilty
of second degree murder and Judge Lawrence
Tonnetti sentenced her to 20 years to life. It was
a complete shock to Sheila, who had been free
on bail for two years; her attorney had assured
her there was not enough evidence to convict
her. After the trial, she was immediately removed
to Rikers Island where she thinks "I must have
had a nervous breakdown."
On August 4, 1994, Judge Robert J. Ward
overturned her conviction; as we go to press,
Sheila is out of jail, but the district attorney has
appealed Judge Ward's decision. Sheila is not yet a
free woman, but for her to even get this far
required a campaign for freedom that lasted 12
years and required at least eight "keys" to click
open her jail cell. Perhaps analyzing what it took
to open that door will inspire more feminists to
get involved in a campaign to free Jayne Stamen
and other women in prison for killing in selfdefense.
What did it take to free Sheila
ON THE ISSUES WINTER 1995 11