Bobbie Jo Clary is on trial for beating a man to death with a hammer.
LOUISVILLE - A woman in Kentucky has been summoned to testify against her murder/robbery suspect wife – even though the state exempts straight spouses from testifying against each other.
Bobbie Jo Clary, 37, is on trial for murder and robbery. She is accused of beating George Murphy, 64, to death with a hammer in 2011. Clary maintains that she acted in self-defense while being raped at Murphy’s home.
Clary is facing the Death Penalty.
Pictured on the left is Geneva Case. Case has been summoned to testify against Clary, right.
Geneva Case, has been legally subpoenaed to testify after she allegedly heard Clary say that she had killed the victim. Clary and Case entered into a civil union in Vermont ten years ago. Kentucky has a spousal privilege law exempting partners from testifying against each other – but it does not recognize same-sex marriages.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Susan Schultz Gibson ruled Monday that it’s “abundantly clear” that Kentucky doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages within the state or from other states.
Clary’s case is the first legal test in the state over forcing same-sex partners to testify against each other. It also raises the broader issue of whether the state recognizes marriages or civil unions that are legal elsewhere. The case could have ramifications for issues such as divorces and division of property after death.
Clary allegedly beat George Murphy, pictured here, to death with a hammer.
In a recent ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the nation’s legally married gay couples equal federal footing with other married Americans by wiping away part of a federal anti-gay marriage law. Another ruling the same day left in place a trial court’s declaration that California’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.
Bryan Gatewood, an attorney representing Case, said that he was willing to fight the case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Clary’s trial, set to begin Aug. 30, was rescheduled for next Feb. 7 because another of her attorneys has another murder trial.