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People vs Marivic Genosa

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, appellee, vs. MARIVIC GENOSA, appellant.

G.R. No. 135981 | 2004-01-15

D E C I S I O N

PANGANIBAN, J.:

Admitting she killed her husband, appellant anchors her prayer for acquittal on a novel theory -- the "battered woman syndrome" (BWS), which allegedly constitutes self-defense. Under the proven facts, however, she is not entitled to complete exoneration because there was no unlawful aggression -- no immediate and unexpected attack on her by her batterer-husband at the time she shot him. 

Absent unlawful aggression, there can be no self-defense, complete or incomplete. 

But all is not lost. The severe beatings repeatedly inflicted on appellant constituted a form of cumulative provocation that broke...