Wife found guilty of killing her husband in long-running Ulvila homicide case

Law professor expresses doubts over court's call for psychiatric examination; defence to appeal

print this

The District Court of Satakunta found on Tuesday that the woman accused of killing her husband in Ulvila near Pori in December 2006 was guilty as charged.
      However, the verdict was not unanimous.
      The laamanni or "lawspeaker" presiding over the court and one of the judges found the woman guilty, while a second judge felt that there was not enough evidence to convict the defendant.
     
The District Court ordered the defendant to undergo a psychiatric examination, which is likely to take several months.
      After the examination, the court will give its final verdict. In addition to the actual punishment, the court will have to decide whether the act was murder or manslaughter.
     
According to Professor of Criminal Law Matti Tolvanen from the University of Eastern Finland, it is very rare that the members of the court disagree so much on the verdict in a criminal case like the one in Ulvila.
      ”The outcome of the proceedings indicates that in terms of proof the case is very difficult. The evidence in the case is so contradictory that with good reason one could decide either way”, Tolvanen interprets.
      District Prosecutor Jarmo Valkama says that he thought already in advance that the judges might not reach agreement on a verdict.
     
However, most members of the court had no reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt.
      The most significant piece of evidence was the emergency call the woman placed. The call was interpreted to indicate that during the conversation there was no outside assailant in the house.
      However, the judge who was in the minority felt that the emergency call cannot prove beyond doubt that there was no outside killer in the house. He also questions whether the woman could have had enough time to stage the crime scene before the police arrived.
     
Professor Tolvanen notes that the court has been considering its decision very thoroughly. He also says that it is not exceptional that in a homicide case a verdict is given mainly on the basis of having all other potential perpetrators ruled out.
      ”It is true that there is not much direct evidence in this case”, Tolvanen acknowledged.
      Moreover, Tolvanen regards as surprising the court’s decision to order the defendant to undergo a psychiatric examination, which the defence has refused, while the prosecutor has not called for one, either.
      Tolvanen feels that this decision is in conflict with the fact that the ruling clearly stated that the defendant’s behaviour had been quite logical during the incident.
      Defence Counsel Juha Manner announced already on Tuesday that the woman will appeal against the upcoming verdict to the Court of Appeals.
      ”The interim verdict was quite a shock to my client, as she believed that she would be released today. She had already packed all her things in order to go home”, Manner said.
     
The woman has been in police custody since last September, when she was arrested and accused of murdering her husband in December 2006.
      The wife claimed at the time that a masked outside assailant had killed her husband. The police launched extensive investigations, during which several suspects were arrested and DNA samples were taken from a total of 600 men in the province.
      In the autumn of 2008 the officer in charge of the investigation was replaced, whereafter suspicions towards the widow started to build up.
     
The following autumn, the District Court remanded the widow in custody over suspicion of killing her husband.
      The operation has involved a number of twists and turns: DNA tests, telephone tapping, and covert police action.
      The police eventually completed their preliminary investigations in January 2010.


Links:
  Lawspeaker (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat