Right Or Wrong?

Was Susan Wright Pushed To The Edge When She Killed Her Husband?

(CBS)  Siegler also has to deal with Susan’s claims of abuse. And friends, customers and neighbors all said that Jeff seemed to love Susan and that they never witnessed any signs of abuse.

But Susan’s mother, Sue Wyche, and her friend, Jamie Darr-Hall, testified that they saw bruises on her body.

Jeff also had a checkered past, had pleaded guilty to drug possession and had assaulted a former girlfriend. And Susan had to explain why, at 18, she was a topless dancer for two months.

After the prosecution rests, the stage is set for the most dramatic day of the trial. Accused killer Susan must now take the stand and tell her side of the story, as the star witness at her own trial.

It’s up to her to convince the jurors that she was a battered wife, and that her husband attacked her with a knife. To save her life, she said she had to stab him 193 times.

“In his head and in his chest and in his neck and in his stomach and in his leg for when he kicked me,” says Susan. “I stabbed him in his penis for all the times that he made me have sex, and I didn’t want to and I couldn’t stop.”

Next, Susan reveals a detail that only her defense team has heard before. She says she stopped stabbing Jeff when she heard a knock at the bedroom door. She says she was covered with Jeff’s blood, put on a robe, hid the knife and opened the door. Standing there, she says, was their 4-year-old son, Bradley.

“She’s known all along. He heard it and she never told anyone about it,” says Siegler. “And my God, what did he see?”

Susan's lawyer, Neil Davis, however, says this admission proves his client is telling the truth about what happened and why: “Who would want to get up there and admit that their child knocked on the door unless it was true? Who would want to get up there and admit they used two knives instead of one unless it was true?”

But Susan also has to explain how ties found on Jeff’s hands and leg got there. She says she tied his body to a dolly she used to push him outside: “So that he'd stay on. I kept thinking that he was going to get up.”

“Perhaps the most issue I felt, even more difficult than the 193 stab wounds, trying to explain to a jury how Susan thought her husband was still alive even though she just stabbed him 200 times and put him in a hole he dug in his backyard,” says Davis.

After five hours of questioning, Siegler gets her chance. She shifts the jury’s attention from Susan, the mother, to her past as a stripper. She also hammers Susan on whether or not she tied Jeff up before stabbing him.

“And when you stabbed him, the 56th time or the 89th time, or the 158th time, was your arm getting tired?” asks Siegler. But Susan never wavers.

After eight days of testimony, Siegler has the last word: “What you’re left with is the word of Susan Lucille Wright, the word of a card-carrying, obvious, no doubt about it, caught red-handed, confirmed, documented liar.”

Now, it’s up to the jury to decide, and just as Siegler had feared, jurors have trouble seeing Susan as a murderer. But it’s hard for them to forget the blood-soaked bed, and they had it reassembled when they deliberated.

Two days later, they reached a verdict: guilty.

[pamelann1]

What? Were you her cell mate in prison? I can tell you for a fact that her childhood was no picnic. In the end she murdered my friend Jeff and she will not see the light of day for at least 12 years. That''s half of her sentence. You know they don''t let out a murderess because of prison crowding. She is one of the most violent woman in history. 193 times.
I wish all of us could get online and talk together without a posting board. I respect your opinions but not one of you has accepted any of my personal insite. We all have things to learn or face in our life. I''ve been doing this a day or so and I''m wore out.

[cvalentini-2009]

awsome01, I''m glad to finally see someone on here that knows Susan.

[asome01]

That woman is a victim of violence at some point in her life. She sleeps in the fetal position! Ive seen it first hand and have worked with her for almost 4 years.

[cvalentini-2009]

Like I said earlier Pamela, you don''t know what went on behind closed doors and you even admitted that.

[cvalentini-2009]

BetsyRoss you need a reality check!

[pamelann1]

Susan Wright made up being abused. Ron Sr & Ron Jr, were both called to the stand. The defense lawyer could have tried to tear them apart and chose NOT to because both Jeff''s father & brother are exemplory people and are in good standing in their communities. Ron Sr''s comment about "We love our women" was a poor choice of words but I know him and he just meant the men in the family love their wives. The man is nearly 80 yrs old by now. This just about killed him. He is keeping Jeff''s memory alive for all of us in his actions & words. He raised his children right! Wright.

[pamelann1]

Susan Wright made up being abused. Ron Sr & Ron Jr, were both called to the stand. The defense lawyer could have tried to tear them apart and chose NOT to because both Jeff''s father & brother are exemplory people and are in good standing in their communities. Ron Sr''s comment about "We love our women" was a poor choice of words but I know him and he just meant the men in the family love their wives. The man is nearly 80 yrs old by now. This just about killed him. He is keeping Jeff''s memory alive for all of us in his actions & words. He raised his children right! Wright.

[myrtis21]

to Pam and Val. Quit the arguing. This woman was terribly abused and I can see how it drove her over the edge. What makes me mad is to read Ron Wright''s comment "We love our women." Really. Why didn''t the defense ever call Ron Wright to the stand and ask him if he had ever abused his wife and children. Something went wrong for Jeff to be so abusive. I hope and pray that Susan will get a second trial and a much stronger defense, that the judge will set her free, and that she will get her children back.

[betsyross4]

CVALENTI-I WATCHED 48HRS.YOU SEEM LIKE A MURDER GROUPIE.

[betsyross4]

JEFF FANS? HOW LUDICRIS...SHE KNOWS THINGS THAT 99% OF US DO NOT KNOW. LEAVE THE KIDS OUT OF IT PLEASE. SHE IS NOT A FAN BUT SHE''S APPEARS TO BE SAD AND ANGRY. DON''T ANTAGONIZE ONE ANOTHER, THIS IS TO SHARE NOT TEAR OTHER PEOPLE DOWN.

[cvalentini-2009]

To all of you Jeff fans, I guess this couldv''e been another O.J. Simpson case, Laci Peterson, etc. Maybe you would be satisfied then.

[cvalentini-2009]

I know what I do from what was brought forth with the case. Seems like your the one that didn''t know everyting.

[pamelann1]

I am best friends with that family and you do not know what they have been through. Bradley & Kailey are loved so much. The venom in which you write your "comments" is repugnant. Don''t talk about things you know nothing about. Shame on you. Those children have been at their permanant residence since Susan was denied bail. 5 years now.

[cvalentini-2009]

Sorry hun, I know who my Lord and Savior is. I''ll be with him when it''s my time.

[pamelann1]

Go straight to hell.

[cvalentini-2009]

So the story sounds even more bogus to me, he caught an assault charge for slamming his fist and cracking a table. It doesn''t matter how good looking he was, still doesn''t make it right what he did to her. As far as the Jury, they were caught up on the ties, I don''t recall any of them saying that they didn''t believe that he beat her. It''s a *** shame that His brother got those children. God Bless Them.

[pamelann1]

That''s exactly what happend. Jeff did not put his fist through anything. Jeff slammed his fist and cracked the glass. It seems to me that people would be interested in knowing more about Jeff. Lastly, 48hrs showed Jeff at his heaviest weight and bad angled pictures. He was a very good looking, good hearted man. If you choose not to believe me that''s fine but like BetsyRoss4 said "the jury didn''t believe her" Susan would have been acquitted if her defense lawyer could''ve proved that he wasn''t tied to the bed. And as a footnote, Her lawyer quit immediately after the trial. Since then she has had a public defender and has lost all her appeals. The children could finally be formally adopted by their Aunt & Uncle.

[cvalentini-2009]

Pamelann1,let me guess, Jeff told you that''s all that happened with the assault charge that he caught. Right? Of course.

[cvalentini-2009]

BestyRoss4, are you serious, lets start with the assault charge that he caught from his ex-girlfriend. That proves that he''s hit a woman before. What about the bruises that Susan''s sister, friends, etc. saw on her? What about the friend that would stay over in the next room so Jeff wouldn''t beat her that night? What about the bruises that she still had a week later when she went to the police. He must have given her a hell of a beating that time, Right? What about the person that lives in their house right now that said there was alot of sheet rock repair done to the walls. He must of through her into the walls quite a few times. What about when her sister got Susan, her kids, and Susan''s stuff and brought them to her house. Why do you think she did that? Did you even watch the show or read the story? Or are you another friend of Jeff''s?

[cvalentini-2009]

Pamelann1, so he got an assault charge for putting his fist through a table, thats very hard to believe. I come from a family of police officers.