DANVERS — Jurors heard yesterday from a retired police lieutenant who is an expert on domestic violence and a Lynn man who dated Kathie DeFelice for nearly a year before she stabbed her former boyfriend William Olsen Jr. to death.
DeFelice, 48, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the October 2006 death of Olsen, 55, a Danvers housepainter with whom she had a stormy seven-year relationship.
DeFelice's lawyers hope to convince jurors that she acted in self-defense and was suffering from battered women's syndrome, a condition brought on by years of documented physical abuse that led to three arrests of Olsen and five restraining orders against him.
The last order was still in effect when Olsen went to DeFelice's apartment in Lynn on the night of Oct. 30, 2006.
It was DeFelice's own witness — Andre Kudryavtsev — who may inadvertently have offered jurors a clue into why DeFelice called Olsen that night.
Kudryavtsev told jurors that the two had dated for a year and had discussed marriage. On the afternoon of the 30th, he was at DeFelice's apartment for about five hours.
When he left, around 5 p.m., "she was just a little upset," Kudryavtsev testified. "She didn't want to be alone."
He said he knew DeFelice had been talking with Olsen but didn't think she would invite him over that night.
Prosecutor Kate MacDougall also questioned Kudryavtsev about why he originally told police he left the apartment at 10 p.m.
"It was my mistake," said Kudryavtsev, a Russian immigrant who met DeFelice while both were staying in a shelter in September 2005. "I didn't make efforts to reconstruct events."
Defense lawyer Edward Hayden also called a retired Danvers police lieutenant, Jon Tiplady, to tell jurors about battered women's syndrome. He spoke generally about the cycles of abuse and the reasons why women will often return to an abusive relationship.
Many times, Tiplady said, "it's love. Nobody wants a relationship to go bad, or to think they've failed."
DeFelice may take the witness stand on Monday, and closing arguments are expected on Tuesday.
