PONTIAC, Mich., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A Michigan judge has ruled prosecutors did not prove a woman who killed her husband with a hatchet on Mother's Day planned to do so.
Judge John McDonald in Oakland County set aside the first-degree murder conviction of Nancy Seaman, the Detroit Free Press reported. While first-degree murder requires a life sentence, a second-degree sentence could be as short as 10 years.
Seaman never denied taking a hatchet to her husband at their home in Farmington Hills. But her lawyer, Michael Faraone, argued during a hearing Wednesday that prosecutors did not prove premeditation, a necessity for a first-degree murder conviction.
Faraone also said Seaman's trial attorney failed to present evidence that Bob Seaman had been drinking heavily and taking amphetamines before the killing. He suggested the couple had a fight.
Prosecutors plan to appeal the judge's decision.
