Their Stories
These are the stories of Louisiana’s criminalized survivors.
Louisiana needs the Justice for Survivors Act because victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual abuse continue to be criminalized and incarcerated when they act in self defense or are coerced into a crime by an abuser. We thank all of the amazing women who stepped forward to share their stories.
Edna’s Story
Edna Gibson is a mother, a grandmother, a seamstress, and a survivor of domestic violence. In 1987 she was convicted by a non-unanimous jury of second degree murder. She was sentenced to life without parole for stabbing her husband a single time after he hit her during a fight. At the trial, Edna testified that her husband often beat and yelled at her.
While incarcerated, Edna earned her Bachelor’s Degree through the New Orleans Theological Seminary. She worked to appeal her conviction but, “Everything I tried failed. All the appeals, nobody listened. They didn’t want to hear nothing I had to say. I was this dangerous criminal.”
After 32 years of incarceration, her sentence was commuted and she was granted parole in 2020.
Edna spent three decades away from her daughter and grandbabies for trying to live through abuse. Today, she supports the Justice for Survivors Act because “Women are dying every day of domestic violence.”
Beasy’s Story
Before her incarceration, Beatrice “Beasy” Taylor was a career professional who had worked at IBM and in telecommunications. In 1996, she met a man who spent six months physically and mentally abusing her. She called the police on him over and over, and ended the relationship. Hours after the last time she called the police, he came to her apartment under the pretext of retrieving his work boots. He pushed his way inside, stomped on her toe, breaking it, and attacked her. She was forced to defend herself with a kitchen knife, stabbing him a single time.
Beasy was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. The foreperson of her jury, when asked if it was ever ok to hit a woman, responded: “A nagging wife, then maybe, maybe you could justify slugging her once.”
While incarcerated, Beasy worked as the chapel librarian where she helped other women deepen their faith and heal from past injustices. “There’s a common thread between all the survivors of domestic violence who were criminalized, victims of rape, and human trafficking… And that thread is the trauma.”
In 2020, Beasy’s sentence was commuted by then Governor John Bel Edwards and she was granted parole.
Today, Beasy says she feels “blessed by God” to have her freedom. She supports the Justice for Survivors Act because “there are more ladies who are still in prison as a result of domestic violence and we need a law to help them.”
