Nellie May Madison (née Mooney) (April 5, 1895–July 8, 1953) was an American woman who was convicted of murder in 1934 for killing her husband. She was the first woman to be sentenced to death in the state of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Due to public outcry, her sentence was later commuted to life in prison and she was eventually released. Her case helped garner legitimacy for the

abuse defense The abuse defense is a criminal law defense in which the defendant argues that a prior history of abuse justifies violent retaliation. While the term most often refers to instances of child abuse or sexual assault, it also refers more generall ...

, a concept virtually unknown at the time in criminal cases. The case was the subject of a 2015 episode of Investigation Discovery's series ''

A Crime to Remember ''A Crime to Remember'' is an American documentary television series that airs on Investigation Discovery and premiered on November 12, 2013. It tells the stories of notorious crimes that captivated attention of the media and the public when t ...

''.

Early life

She was born in

Red Rock, Montana Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

, and raised in the nearby community of

Dillon Dillon may refer to: People *Dillon (surname) *Dillon (given name) * Dillon (singer) (born 1988), Brazilian singer *Viscount Dillon, a title in the Peerage of Ireland Places Canada *Dillon, Saskatchewan United States *Dillon Beach, California ...

. She was trained to be a natural survivalist of the mountains. Prior to her marriage to Eric Madison, she had an annulment from a 23-year-old ex-convict when she was 13. She also later married and divorced three different men. She had no children.''

'', Season 3 Episode 7, "Damsel on Death Row", December 22, 2015.

Murder and conviction

On March 24, 1934, at their home in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, after alleged repeated

spousal abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

episodes by her husband Eric Madison, Nellie Madison pointed a gun at Eric while he was changing out of his day clothes with the intent of threatening him. He quickly reached under the bed for a box of butcher knives and allegedly threatened to cut her heart out. As he was reaching for a knife, Nellie shot Eric in the back five times, killing him. Nellie Madison was later arrested and tried for the murder of her husband. Even before he knew all the facts, Los Angeles County District Attorney

Buron Fitts Buron Rogers Fitts (March 22, 1895 – March 29, 1973) was the 29th lieutenant governor of California, from 1927 to 1928, and Los Angeles County district attorney thereafter until 1940. Early life Born in Belcherville, Texas, Fitts received h ...

sought the death penalty for Madison. On advice of her lawyers, Madison made no mention of the spousal abuse and claimed she was not at the scene of the murder. As her story was implausible, a jury convicted her and Judge Charles Fricke sentenced her to death. On appeal, the California Supreme Court upheld the conviction.

Appeal

After sentencing, Madison's ex-husband, with whom she was still friends, urged her to make the spousal abuse episodes public. When pleading her case to Fricke, he refused to reduce the sentence and dismissed the allegations of domestic violence as "ridiculous." But soon Madison began receiving public support, including from prominent journalist "Aggie" Underwood. Underwood discovered that Eric Madison had beaten both Nellie and his ex-wife into signing a similar confession stating they were unfaithful in their marriage, when in fact, it was Eric who had been unfaithful and having affairs with teenage girls. All of the jurors who convicted Madison petitioned Governor Frank Merriam to

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the sentence. In September 1935, Merriam commuted Madison's sentence to life in prison. After she waged a letter-writing campaign from prison to reduce her sentence, Governor Culbert Olson had Madison freed from prison on March 27, 1943, exactly nine years and three days after the murder.

Later life

In the fall of 1943, she settled in San Bernardino, where she married her sixth husband, house painter John Wagner. It was her longest marriage. She died there on July 8, 1953, after a stroke.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madison, Nellie May 1895 births 1953 deaths American female murderers American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to death Incidents of domestic violence People convicted of murder by California Prisoners sentenced to death by California Recipients of American gubernatorial clemency People from Dillon, Montana People from Burbank, California People from San Bernardino, California Mariticides