A Win for Women's Rights, or Justice Failed?

Nicole Ryan's acquittal in the attempted murder of her husband raises cheers – and concerns.

A Nova Scotia court recently acquitted 39-year-old school-teacher Nicole Ryan of the attempted murder of her husband, ruling that she was compelled to take the actions she did because of the “state of terror” her abusive husband had engendered. Prosecutors had alleged that Ryan had arranged with an undercover police officer to have her husband killed. The ruling has been hailed by some as a landmark victory for women’s rights, and condemned by others as providing a get-out-of-jail card for women accused of murdering their husbands. Kim Pate, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society, and James Morton, the Liberal candidate for Oshawa, sat down with The Mark to debate the ruling.

THE MARK: So, Mr. Morton, you seem to find this decision a little problematic. Do you want to explain your take on things?

JIM MORTON: Sure. I must disagree a little bit here with the view that you can proceed to take your own steps – a self-help remedy – to defend yourself when you are not facing imminent physical harm. Imminent, to my mind – and I think this is really what the law said – means there's somebody standing there with a gun pointing at you. The idea that you can take your own steps because you feel the police can't help you is dangerous. There was a case in the Ontario Court of Appeal, about a year ago now, where a gang member killed another gang member on the basis that it was the only way that he – and it was a guy – could possibly defend himself, because if he didn't kill him, he would be killed. And the Court of Appeal basically said no, that's not going to work. A situation like this, maybe a terrible and a difficult one –

KIM PATE: And it's not at all comparable.

MORTON: You've got two people fearing for their lives who say that the police cannot protect them –

PATE: No, no. One went to the police, routinely, and you've characterized it as an inability of the police – it's not an inability, it's a refusal of the police to act. We've got Bonnie Mooney's case out West … we've had cases right across the country where women in abusive situations have called the police, and sometimes they've even been arrested if they've used any kind of defensive force, or they've been told there's nothing the police can do, when in fact that's just not true –

MORTON: In my view, in a situation where you've got two people who genuinely believe that they have no alternative but to resort to physical force, I see the two situations as being the same, and –

PATE: Well it's actually not the same at all, and that’s why we've developed a new course on this subject at the U of Ottawa, because that's how the criminal law has historically been taught, and it's part of the reason that the law has not developed well around how to defend battered women in these situations, because the context is entirely –

MORTON: Do I understand that your position is that, in a situation like this, the woman is right to try and go out and hire someone to kill her ex-husband?