A Massachusetts woman charged with slicing her husband’s throat in a domestic violence case has been acquitted on all charges. On Friday, March 6, 2026, Lucy Medina was found not guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon by a jury of her peers. She wept and laid her head down on the table as the verdict was read in Salem Superior Court.

Domestic Violence Incident

On July 17, 2020, there was an incident at the Lawrence apartment that Lucy Medina and her husband, Luis, shared. Police were called to the scene and found Lucy hysterical on the floor, covered in blood. There was a red trail leading to her husband, who was also covered in blood. Prosecutors say that Lucy grabbed a knife from the kitchen during a fight between the couple after a night of heavy drinking and stabbed him on their patio.

Lucy Medina’s defense attorney, Hank Brennan, argued the defendant had been beaten and abused for years by her husband and acted in self-defense. Multiple witnesses to the abuse of the years and to the incident that night testified during the brief four-day trial before a jury found her not guilty, believing that she was a victim defending herself against her abuser. 

Luis Medina Admits Guilt

Luis Medina survived the attack and “has never given his account of what occurred” the night he was stabbed, according to the defense. He was listed as a trial witness under the prosecution, but did not appear on the stand. Instead, his attorney, Murat Erkan, testified and told the jury that Luis confessed he was frequently violent towards his wife and would often beat her.

A letter was sent to the court by Luis’s attorney admitting fault, but it was not allowed to be used or discussed during Erkan’s testimony. “Mr. Medina firmly believes that if Defendant was the source of his injuries, she acted in self-defense. He is adamant that Defendant committed no crime,” the letter read.

Witness Testimony

Lucy’s coworkers and family members took the stand during the trial to describe the signs of abuse they saw. Rosita Urena and Kirsey Roberts, both coworkers, testified that they saw bruises on Lucy often, but she would brush them off as a fall or some sort of accident. They said she would often miss work, and when she would return, wearing black-and-blue bruises, she would receive “beautiful” flowers at the office, but was never happy to receive them.

Ruth Nunez, Lucy’s cousin and coworker, corroborated the other coworkers’ testimony, stating she saw Lucy with bruises consistently and would blame them on falls and her lack of attendance on sleeplessness.

Responding Units

Jesus Melendez was the responding EMT to the Medina home. He arrived to find the defendant screaming and covered in blood. Luis was lying facedown on the ground with a pool of blood surrounding him, breathing, but unable to talk or move. After transferring him into the ambulance, Melendez was able to determine he had a puncture wound to the left side of his neck.

In the police interview with Lucy that was shown to the jury, she describes the events that transpired and led to the stabbing. She and her husband planned to cook outside, she had been taking shots of tequila, and the two got into an argument over their children. Lucy said he hit her multiple times before she grabbed a knife and stabbed him.

Francis Nova, a Lawrence Police Department patrolman, was dispatched to the home, and when he was put on the stand, jurors saw photos of the crime scene and of Lucy covered in blood. The judge had to call a recess after Lucy began hysterically crying, causing a disruption in court. 

Closing Statements

Before Lucy Medina was acquitted of all charges, her defense delivered an emotional closing argument, explaining that years of abuse led to this, and that she is the victim in this situation, not her husband. 

“He beat her. He beat her up. He beat her down,” Brennan said. “He beat her into submission. He beat her constantly…He beat her for 28 years. He did it constantly, and he did it proudly.” Lucy’s self-defense, Brennan argued, was “28 years in the making,” and described it as “a lifetime of abuse.”