For domestic violence victims who commit violent crimes, new bill provides hope
Susan Bustamante, a member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, served 31 years in prison for a domestic violence case. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times
BY NOAH GOLDBERG | STAFF WRITER
APRIL 3, 20232:15 PM PT
When Susan Bustamante was on trial for murder in 1987, she was not able to give her side of the story.
She was convicted in a two-day trial of helping her brother kill her husband for a $50,000 insurance payout. Before the killing, she had revealed to her brother that she was a victim of intimate partner violence.
“Nothing was allowed on domestic violence,” Bustamante said. “They said [my husband] wasn’t on trial, I was.”
Bustamante is among a group of women convicted of violent crimes who could benefit from the passage of a bill in the state Assembly that would allow victims of human trafficking or domestic violence who allegedly committed violent crimes to present evidence of their abuse as an affirmative defense at criminal trials. The bill would also allow survivors to use their evidence of abuse after being convicted of violent crimes to petition to have their cases vacated.
Bustamante was granted clemency in 2017 and released from prison the following year, but her case has not been vacated. The bill could also help other abuse and trafficking victims still behind bars.
Corene de la Cruz was convicted of assault with a firearm after shooting her ex-boyfriend in Los Angeles County in 2010. De la Cruz, who said she was a victim of verbal, physical and emotional abuse at the ex’s hands, said that she had arrived at her ex’s home planning to kill herself, but a struggle led to the gun going off and shooting the man.