## Facts

- Marguerite Louise Brooks was convicted of murdering her husband, Lewis Brooks, by shooting him and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Brooks had a history of being physically abused by Lewis and by prior male partners; expert testimony described her as suffering from battered woman syndrome.
- On September 18, 1992, Lewis (with a friend) confronted Brooks while she was walking with a friend, grabbed and jerked her, and pursued the two women as they ran to the friend’s house.
- Witness testimony indicated Lewis was intoxicated, angry, and made a threat to kill Brooks.
- Inside the house, Brooks obtained a gun from a dresser and went back outside.
- Outside, Brooks warned Lewis to stay back and told him she would shoot; Lewis continued advancing with his hands raised, and Brooks shot him, causing his death.
- During deliberations, the jury asked whether battered-spouse syndrome could support manslaughter or constitute provocation; the trial court answered “no” to both, and the defense did not object.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court erred in denying Brooks’s motions for judgment of acquittal and for a new trial because the evidence of self-defense allegedly made the murder verdict wrong and unjust.
2. Whether the trial court committed reversible error in answering “no” to the jury’s questions about battered-spouse syndrome as a basis for manslaughter or provocation, where no contemporaneous objection was made.

## Decision

- The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the murder conviction and life sentence.
- The court held that the evidence on self-defense presented a jury question and did not require acquittal or a new trial.
- The court held that any claim of error in the trial court’s responses to the jury questions was not preserved for appellate review due to the absence of a timely objection.

## Legal Principles

- Self-defense ordinarily presents a question for the jury; an appellate court will not reweigh evidence or disturb a verdict supported by evidence permitting a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
- A verdict is not set aside as against the weight of the evidence merely because the record also contains evidence supporting self-defense.
- A party must make a timely, specific objection to jury instructions or to a trial court’s responses to jury questions to preserve the issue for appellate review in a non-capital case.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Brooks’s murder conviction because the evidence permitted the jury to reject self-defense, and it declined to review the trial court’s “no” answers regarding battered-spouse syndrome and manslaughter/provocation because the defense failed to object at trial.


Brooks v. State, 630 So. 2d 160 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993)