PORTLAND, MAINE (AP) - A woman who killed her abusive husband by stabbing him more than 25 times was sentenced Friday to seven months of jail time served and allowed to go free after a judge said she had already suffered enough.
Laureen Rugen, 50, of Portland was initially charged with murder in the death of Christopher Rugen, who was stabbed with a butcher knife in his bed April 8, 2008. She pleaded guilty in February to the lesser felony of manslaughter.
In sentencing her Friday, Justice Robert Crowley agreed with prosecution and defense lawyers that she had suffered two decades of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of her 61-year-old husband. Crowley also sentenced her to six years’ probation.
Although the conviction carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, Rugen only faced up to 2 1/2 years under the plea agreement.
After spending the seven months in jail, she was released on bail in November and has been living in a religious community in Otisfield. After the sentencing, she left the Cumberland County Superior Court a free woman.
Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said the case involved a unique set of circumstances and does not signal that it’s OK to kill an abusive spouse. Defense lawyer J.P. DeGrinney said both the facts of the case and the sentence were unusual.
“On murder cases that are resolved by way of a manslaughter plea, defendants normally do substantial time incarcerated, at least a decade or so,” DeGrinney said. “But this case was extraordinary in the sense that we had such documented and credible instances of absolutely horrific domestic violence.”
He said Christopher Rugen had a criminal record for abuse and assaulted his wife in a methodical, business-like manner on the night of his death.
“This was much more than his slapping her around,” the lawyer said. “She, very credibly, could believe she had no way out.”
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