The aunt of a Sequatchie County, Tenn., woman who was charged last week in the stabbing death of her husband said her niece has serious mental disabilities and she believes the stabbing was an act of self-defense.
On Oct. 17, 44-year-old Jerri Lynn Sanders was charged with criminal homicide in the death of 61-year-old John Wayne Sanders. The husband suffered a single stab wound to the abdomen while the two were having an argument at a home they shared on Branch Road, north of Dunlap. Sanders was on probation from a previous conviction for stabbing her husband in May 2016 in an incident he survived.
But Jerri Sanders' aunt, Lavonne Randall of Atlanta, said her niece doesn't have the mental capacity to understand what happened because she still suffers from the effects of an illness that affected her mental abilities.
"She has a history of an aneurysm when she was young," Randall said of her niece on Tuesday. "She has the mind of a 12-year-old child."
Jerri Sanders had a relationship with her husband that was tumultuous and sometimes abusive, the aunt said Tuesday.
"When this happened, there was a fight going on. To me, it was self-defense," Randall said, adding that she isn't sure Sanders understands what happened or even the fact that her husband is dead.
Randall said family members on Tuesday met in Dunlap seeking to get a power of attorney signed so another member of the family can make decisions on Sanders' behalf, if necessary, and acquire her medical records.
Randall doesn't think the issue of Sanders' mental capacity was raised in her 2016 conviction, she said. Sanders was on probation after pleading guilty in December 2016 to using a knife on her husband in May of last year, court records show.
Steve Strain, the 12th Judicial District assistant district attorney who prosecutes cases in Sequatchie County, said he has no knowledge of Sanders having a mental issue "that would rise to the level of an insanity defense or competency to stand trial," as it would apply to the current criminal case.
Strain said he couldn't remember whether Sanders underwent a mental evaluation in any past cases.
The public defender's office was appointed last week to represent Sanders, but the attorney who represents Sequatchie County is out of town until Monday and was not available for comment Tuesday, according to officials in the office.
Sequatchie County Circuit Court officials on Tuesday said no mental evaluation was ordered in the 2016 case and nothing regarding Sanders' mental status had been filed so far in the current case.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.