Three Missouri women who killed husbands to be paroled

Story here. Excerpt:

"Three Missouri women convicted of murdering their husbands years ago learned today that they will be released from prison on parole because of claims of spousal abuse.

Vicky Williams, 55, and Roberta Carlene Borden, 65, will be released on Oct. 15, according to their lawyers and relatives. Ruby Jamerson, 57, will be released in 2013. All were serving life sentences from cases that date to the 1970s or 1980s.

For a decade, a group of attorneys called the Missouri Battered Women's Clemency Coalition has argued for the women's release, claiming they were driven to kill after suffering abuse at the hands of their husbands.

At the time the women were arrested, the group argues, there were few resources for battered women, domestic violence was poorly understood and evidence of abuse was not routinely presented at trials.
...
Many relatives of the slain spouses have disputed the claims of abuse and argued that the women were only conning their way to freedom.'