KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- The Kansas Supreme Court has decided to uphold Deborah Meeks' second-degree murder conviction from 2009.
Meeks', who confessed to killing boyfriend Wesley Smith in Wyandotte County, claimed that she suffered from battered woman syndrome.
She said Smith was beating her and testified in court that she brought a gun over to the man's home. The gun, she said, was meant to scare him.
However, during the trial, Smith did not claim self-defense, according to the court.
“Meeks did not assert a claim of self-defense,” the court said. “Accordingly, Meeks has no claim on appeal that she was denied the right to present evidence on that unasserted - and disclaimed - theory of defense.”
Meeks will continue to serve out her 13-year sentence.
