In the beginning she said her husband was really sweet, charming and attentive to their children but Donna Cobbs, pictured here, killed her husband six months ago and has been trying to resume her life since the acquittal.
Despite the fact that, her husband continuously abused and mistreated her, Donna spent 10 years in an abusive relationship with her husband Kevin.
On the night of the killing, the couple threw a party in their apartment. Kevin, who was unemployed at the time, spent the evening guzzling a bottle of tequila and snorting cocaine.
When a fight broke out, the couple kicked everyone out, but Kevin began muttering threats and accusing his wife of cheating on him.
Donna went into her daughter’s room to sleep (the couple have 12-year-old twins), but said, her husband woke her up by punching her in the face, pulling her out of bed by her hair, kicking and stomping her as she tried to get away from him. She ran into the bedroom, but Kevin gave chase, grabbed her and began choking her.
“I was feeling for anything,” Cobb said. “I felt a knife, and just poked him with it.”
“I didn’t want him to die,” she added. “My kids have to be without a father, and it’s painful.” But at that point, in my opinion, it was her life or his.
Domestic abuse experts say it is not uncommon for victims of violence to make excuses for someone they love.
“Love is complicated,” said Adwoa Akhu, author of “Metamorphosis: Journaling the Path from Domestic Violence Victim to Victor.”
“People stay because things don’t usually start off violent,” she said. “Abusers are good at getting someone to love them.”
Cobb said she is now focused on moving her family out of the apartment where the murder occurred. She said she still is coming to terms with Kevin’s death.
“Throughout all the years of the abuse I experienced … I don’t think that’s something I’ll ever fully recover from,” she said.
