Then, last summer, Wilkins shot Packer five times. Like him, she claimed self-defense in her trial for malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault. On Wednesday morning, after deliberating for 11 hours over three days, a jury acquitted her, too. As the court clerk read the verdict, Wilkins stared straight ahead, betraying little emotion. Minutes later, smoking a cigarette outside the courthouse, seated in a wheelchair with a broken ankle, she said she had no idea from the beginning of the trial which way the 12 people deciding her case leaned. “You couldn’t ask for a better jury,” she said. …read more

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