ALGOMA TWP., Mich. - A woman who murdered her husband 30 years ago while he slept in their home near Rockford is asking the governor to release her from prison.
Delores Kapuscinski, 67, was sentenced to life without parole in 1988, but she has a clemency hearing coming up in July—29 years after she was sent to prison.
Kapuscinski says she was sexually and emotionally abused by her husband, Thomas, during their 17 years of marriage. The night of the murder she says she just snapped. In 1987, there weren't many laws to protect and defend battered women, but now there are and the Michigan Women's Justice and Clemency Project has taken up her cause.
“She has now served 29 years in prison for shooting her husband who was very violent, primarily sexually violent,” says Justice and Clemency Project director Carol Jacobson. “There was, of course, little understanding of domestic violence in 1987.”
In the past, the family of Thomas Kapuscinski has argued against clemency for Delores. But Jacobson says Kent County Circuit Court does not oppose her release and she says the governor's office promises a fair consideration of the case.
“We do have hope, yes,” she says. “I have known Delores Kapuscinski for 29 years, and I believe she will be an outstanding citizen when she is released.”
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