Crimes of Passion...
Hot Blooded Murder.

Crimes of Passion have for centuries been used as an excuse by the mainly male defendants to escape murder convictions; in some countries they still are... but the laws are changing.

"The traditional crime of passion is to be swept away in the most radical overhaul of the murder laws in 50 years" wrote Frances Gibb (Legal Editor) in The Times July 29, 2008... Harriet Harman (Minister for Women) said "We want to abolish the culture of excuses that allows a man who has killed his wife to say, I killed her but it's not my fault because she was having an affair."

Facts About Crimes Of Passion.

• 30% of female homicide victims in the U.S. from 1976-2005 were murdered by an intimate (spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend).
  Only 5% of men were murdered by an intimate.
  Of the other female homicides, 11.8% were by some other family member, 21.8% by an acquaintance, and only 8.7% by a stranger.
  

  U.S. Bureau of Justice.

  
  
  
  
• The defense of "temporary insanity" during a crime of passion was first used in United States civil courts in 1859.
  New York U.S. Congressman Daniel Sickles repeatedly shot dead Philip Barton Key ( a U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia) after shouting "Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored my home; you must die".
  Key, something of a lady's man, had been conducting an adulterous affair with Barton's wife. Sickle was acquitted.
  
  
• Ruth Ellis was the last woman hanged in the United Kingdom (in 1955) for the shooting murder of her lover. In a final letter to the victim's parents she wrote "I have always loved your son, and I shall die still loving him".
  
  
• "in Brazil until 1991 wife killings were considered to be non-criminal 'honor killings'; in just one year, nearly 800 husbands killed their wives. Similarly, in Columbia, until 1980, a husband legally could kill his wife for committing adultery".
  

  Professor Julie Mertus,
  School International Service.

  
  
  
  
• "The mountainous southeastern state of Minas Gerais is commonly known as the terra dos machoes, or land of the machos. 'Here, if a man sleeps around with other women it's a sign of masculinity," says Elaine Matozinho, a policewoman in Belo Horizonte. "But if a woman is an adulteress, it's a different story: she pays with her life."
  

  TIME MAGAZINE, 11/08/1990
  "Brazil: Crimes of Passion".

  
  
  
  
• "Peru... the pattern of murders of women detected by the study in the 2003-2005 period (revealed) three-quarters of the killers were cohabiting partners, boyfriends, husbands, ex-partners or ex-boyfriends of the victims.
  In 2005, 58 percent of men accused of murdering women claimed infidelity or jealousy as their motive."
  

  International Press Service, 6 June 2006.

  
  
  
• "Botswana (Africa) floored by passion killings... "They are simply murders, brutal acts carried out by jealous lovers seeking revenge for been jilted by ladies"... Local reports speak of more than 70 such killings taking place in Botswana in 2005 alone."
  

  BBC NEWS, 2006/02/06.

  
  
  
• "Remember Panama is under Roman Law... There is also the crime of passion exception to murder. If you came to find your spouse engaging in sex with another and you killed them both it would be a walk under crime of passion but you may have to go to jail for a few days while the investigation took place".
  

  www.panamalaw.org

  
  
  

The Most Bizarre Crime Of Passion?

47-year-old "Internet Chatroom Murderer" Thomas Montgomery, posing as a 21-year-old marine named "Tommy", developed a serious online relationship with 17-year-old "Jessi" (chat name Talhotblond).

This relationship was inflamed when a fellow work mate of Montgomery's, 22-year-old Brian Barret, also became involved online with "Jessi" in what became an online-based love triangle.

Jealousy finally drove Montomery to shoot Barret dead in the work car park.

The crazy part is, "Jessi" was actually a middle-aged woman using pictures of her 17-year-old daughter for her online flirting.

Police were astounded that the murder resulted from jealousy over a deadly love triangle where the men involved had never actually met the woman or known who she really was. (ref: Wikipedia)... Chat Room Safety

Inventive Crimes of Passion.

• 1973... 50 year old Italian Tranquillo Allevi was poisoned near San Remo by a free sample bottle of a popular Italian aperitif delivered to his home with an invitation.
  

  Police discovered that the victim's attractive 38 year old wife had been having adulterous affairs with 3 men, one of whom was a veterinary surgeon.

  Turns out the jealous animal Doctor had injected enough Strychnine to kill 500 men through the cork of the bottle, then replaced the official invitation to himself on the liquor company's letterhead with another to the victim written on plain paper (the typewriter he used was later identified).

  
  

• 2006... A love triangle involving 2 female Belgian sky divers ended in one crashing into the ground at 120 m.p.h. after parachute ropes were cut.

  It seems a male member of the skydiving club had been sleeping with married 38 year-old Van Doren (a mother of two) as well as jealous 26 year-old Clottemans. Clottemans, who had a history of psychological problems, later attempted suicide.

  
  
• 2006... A 65 year-old celebrity Portuguese T.V. journalist was battered to death by his 21 year-old boyfriend (a recent contestant on a Portuguese reality T.V. show).
  The victim had been savagely battered and castrated.
  
  

• 2009... Wenzhou (China) party official Xie Zaixing choked his mistress of 9 years (who was pregnant with twins at the time) during an argument over his failure to leave and divorce his wife (who was suffering from breast cancer and depression).

  Zaixing then chopped her body up into four parts and dumped the four weighted bags into a river.

The Worst Crimes of Passion.

The only thing worse than murdering a spouse or lover in the name of love is murdering one's own children... without doubt the most despicable crimes of passion.

• 1983...Diane Downs, married with children (Stephen 3, Cheryl 7, and Christie 8) was having an affair with a married man who didn't want children in his life.
  She shot her 3 children and herself in the arm claiming they'd been attacked by a stranger.
  Cheryl was Dead On Arrival but Christie eventually recovered to describe being shot by her mother.
  
  
• 1994... a grieving Susan Smith appeared on TV describing how a black man had hijacked her car and sped away with her 3 year-old and 14 month-old sons in the back. The car was later dragged out of a lake with the boys' bodies still inside.
  It was later proven that she had drowned her sons in an attempt to reconcile with a former lover who didn't want children.
  

Diane Downs, the "Evil Mom" shot her own 3 kids...

Find more about Crimes of Passion at www.trutv.com.