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Francine Moran Hughes (later Wilson; August 17, 1947 – March 22, 2017) was an American woman who, after thirteen years of domestic abuse, set fire to the bed in which her live-in ex-husband Mickey Hughes was sleeping, on March 9, 1977, in Dansville, Michigan. Mickey was killed and the house destroyed in the resulting fire.
Mar 21, 2019 · Francine Hughes killed her abusive husband in 1977 and became a symbol of the battered women's movement. Her case sparked a national debate on spousal abuse and led to new legal protections for victims.
Mar 31, 2017 · Ms. Hughes was charged with first-degree murder. In November, a jury of 10 women and two men took five hours to pronounce Ms. Hughes not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The case,...
Jul 9, 2020 · A new documentary looks at the landmark case of Francine Hughes and examines the inequalities in the criminal-justice system’s treatment of women who kill in self-defense.
Jul 9, 2020 · When Francine Hughes murdered her husband after enduring years of abuse, a debate about domestic violence was ignited, making her story both a high point and an aberration in how such cases...
- 19 min
- 623.2K
- The New Yorker
Oct 27, 2014 · "The Burning Bed" told the story of Francine Hughes, a local woman who, seven years earlier, had been acquitted of murder after she poured gasoline around her sleeping...