Battered Wife Who Shot Spouse Granted Early Parole

CARSON CITY, Nev. — A woman who killed her husband is entitled to early parole because she suffered from battered wife syndrome, the Nevada Pardons Board ruled Thursday.

The board voted 6 to 1 in favor of Archye Jett’s request for immediate parole eligibility after being told the abuse was overlooked during her criminal proceedings.

“It is important to consider battered wife syndrome,” said Atty. Gen. Frankie Sue Del Papa, who championed Jett’s cause. “She suffered a life of abuse from her husband.”

Thomas Naylor, Jett’s latest lawyer, said the ruling puts Nevada “in the forefront of looking at these issues.”

Jett, 39, shot her husband, Joseph, to death in Laughlin in 1988. The incident occurred after the man “taunted” Jett with another woman and demanded the right to have extramarital affairs, Del Papa said.

Jett was married when she was 14 and repeatedly abused, the attorney general said. Represented by a public defender, Jett pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was given a 20-year prison term.

Under the sentence, she would not have been eligible for parole until January, 1995. But the board’s ruling makes her eligible for parole beginning next month.