Woman Exonerated For Shooting Abusive Husband To Death In Front Of Her Two Children

A Nebraska woman who allegedly shot her abusive husband to death in front of her two children in 2020 was exonerated on Friday, March 11.

On Friday, a Dawson County District Court jury found Kathleen Jourdan, 33, a doctor who had been part of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency Program, not guilty on one count of second-degree murder and one count of using a deadly weapon to commit a felony in the shooting death of her 35-year-old husband Joshua Jourdan in 2020, Law & Crime reported.

The shooting reportedly took place while Jourdan, her husband, and their two young sons were driving on Interstate 80 on their way to Scottsbluff on June 17, 2020.

The family was reportedly moving to Scottsbluff so that Jourdan could continue her medical residency.

While they were traveling, Jourdan and Joshua reportedly got into an argument with the abusive husband proceeding to pull the vehicle to the side of the freeway. Later, as Joshua allegedly turned towards Jourdan with his arms raised “like he was going to strike her,” the woman grabbed a handgun from the center console of the pickup truck and shot her husband in the chest.

Jourdan has claimed self-defense in the case, saying she suffered years of emotional and physical abuse from her husband Joshua.

Jourdan testified in her own defense earlier in the week, and specifically emphasized an August 2015 incident during which Joshua allegedly held her down on the floor and poured alcohol down her throat. He then allegedly urinated on her before dumping baby powder on her face and strangled her as punishment because she refused to get undressed, KETV NewsWatch 7 reported.

According to Jourdan, her husband's behavior towards her before the shooting was the same as when he’d previously harmed her.

“As he was pulling over he turned at me, gave me that look that I had seen in Grenada, raised his arm, came at me and that’s when I grabbed the gun and pulled it twice,” Jourdan said in court.

Jourdan added that Joshua forced her to cut off communication with her family and friends and demanded the passwords to all of her electronic devices, as well as used GPS to track her movements. He also demanded that she gratify him sexually as a form of punishment.

According to Jourdan, prior to moving to Scottsbluff, Joshua reportedly threatened to stay in Washington state with their two children unless the woman signed a contract promising to give him 30-percent of her income while she was in medical school and 50-percent of her income thereafter. The contract also included allowing Joshua to have “unlimited sexual intercourse access" with her.

Jourdan reportedly told the jurors that she signed the contract out of fear of losing her children.

Meanwhile, Jourdan’s defense attorney, Brian Davis, referred to his client as a “battered woman” who was only trying to do what was best for her and her children.