In 1998, April Wilkens was arrested for shooting and killing her abusive ex-fiancé. At trial, April testified that she was acting in self-defense, but she was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison. The local news painted a picture of a woman who was abused but acted out of revenge. The assistant district attorney was quoted in the paper saying that April “didn’t act in self-defense,” and that she “wasn’t in a relationship where she was a battered woman. She was in a