The District Chronicles

Issue date: 10/25/09 Section: Neighborhood

Media Credit: AP Mildred Muhammad, wife of the DC sniper also shares her experience

A gentle looking woman stands before the audience in Regal Cinemas. Her salt and pepper hair is a telltale sign that she is middle aged. She is wearing a purple and black shirt with a flowered print on it. With a serious face this woman, Debbie Knapp, takes her time to explain the details behind her shooting to death her husband about 30 years ago, and how it cost her 21 years, 3 months, and 19 days of her life.

"I was no longer a victim, I was a murderer, and he was no longer the abuser, he was now the victim," said Debbie Knapp. "I don't want anyone to ever feel the way that I felt -- that there was no other way out and that it was either him or me."

On Wednesday Oct. 21, Knapp and the YWCA partnered to hold a screening of "Pork Chop Day," a documentary chronicling the years of abuse Knapp suffered at the hands of her husband leading to her murdering him, and finally her parole on pork chop day. Her parole made her the first female lifer to receive parole in Tennessee. Announcement of her parole in 2003 was made while she and fellow inmates were enjoying "pork chop day," a favorite meal on the prison's dining calendar.

Every year an estimated 1.5 million women are victims of physical domestic abuse and every day, 10 women lose their lives to domestic violence, according to the National Institute of Justice Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "Pork Chop Day" explores her life and the terrible impact her crime had on many lives, including her children.

"I didn't know that many women die from abuse every day," said Shannon Thomas who attended the screening. "It shows that there is a real problem in this society. But I don't think I would take the extreme measure of killing my husband. However, it just shows how much is possible when you are in an abusive situation and feel like you are a prisoner in your own home."

Knapp now spends her time working tirelessly to assist women in abusive relationships to live life and "experience joy."

"Abused women feel like they need to be rescued, they do not think they are capable of rescuing themselves," said Elizabeth Shelley, who assisted in the production of the Pork Chop Day documentary. With the right support systems, at least some women will realize help is available, Shelley said.

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