A Washington woman has pleaded she used self-defense after she shot and killed her husband in their family home last Sunday, during an argument that got intense. She believed “he was going to kill me”.
Stephanie Westby, 47, has been charged with degree one murder in the fatal shooting of her spouse, Joseph Westby, on Sunday night.
The assistants with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office were immediately sent to the Westby home in Camas around 8 p.m. after receiving calls complaining of a “disturbance with a weapon.”
However, shortly after 8 p.m., officials in Camas were quick to respond to a 911 call from Stephanie Westby, who was reportedly hysterical and crying, local stations KPTV and KOIN told. According to a document, Westby allegedly said, “My husband and I just had a huge fight. Thought he was going to murder me. So I shot him,”
Deputies who eventually responded to the home on the generally quiet area found Joseph Westby dead inside, according to KOIN.
Westby appeared in the court on Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court on the charges of committing first-degree domestic violence murder in the shooting of 51-year-old Joseph Westby.
Her defense attorney, Steve Thayer, said they would be most definitely entering a not guilty plea. His argument is around the fact that the charges should not exist because it was evident that she had to do it to protect her own life.
“When she called 911, she immediately told he was threatening to kill her and attack her, so she jumps on in self-defense,” Thayer said in court Tuesday.
Defense attorney Steve Thayer claimed she was acting in “lawful self-defense” and that the probable cause affidavit does not convince as a matter of fact that she committed a crime.
Judge John Fairgrieve declared Westby poses a threat to the public and set her bail at $500,000.