Kim Lenore was an expert in the area of psychological, disease, and debilitation known as battered woman syndrome. She holds an Ed. D. in Education from SUNY-Albany, a M.A. in education from SUNY-Binghamton and a B.A. in Psychology from Cornell. Lenore claims that Mrs. Osborn was an abused spouse, and right she was. Lenore talked about how When someone becomes prey to the psychological condition of learned helplessness, it distorts their feelings, beliefs and behavior so that they react as though they do not have the ability to control what happens to them. Donna was obviously abused. She follows the four stages of being an abused wife. She was in denial that clint hit her because she said his hand slipped. Next, she was guilty because Donna thought she was the problem, not clint. Then, she recalled her dreams and goals, in the “enlightenment” stage. Lastly, Mrs. Osborn realized the abuse wouldn’t stop, so she went and got a job. She went through all stages of an abused wife.

Donna Osborn is innocent. She explains how Clint threatened to kill her and after, she lived in constant fear from her husband. She wasn't in a safe place mentally to do anything. Her state of mind has changed tremendously of her beloved husband Clinton. At the time , he physically hurt her multiple times specifically when he pushed her down a few times when she was pregnant in 1988. She has tried her best day after day to overlook the tremendous abuse she receives .

When Chris Powell have his detailed account of what he saw at the scene of the crime, he proved that Donna Osborns story was true. He saw Mr. Osborn lying in the garage floor, dead, with a Louisville slugger next to him which matches up with Donnas testimony that she only shot him because he threatened her. Leslie crowns statement also proved that there were incidents between Donna and Clinton because two years ago, Mrs. Osborn had to get medical treatment for serious injuries. Those injuries were caused by the abuse of Clinton Osborn. When he finally threatened to kill her, she acted as if anyone would and shot him. It's self-defense.