The second day of a hearing to decide if Bailey Boswell will get the death penalty or life in prison went underway on July 1.
Boswell, who was charged with the first-degree murder of Sydney Loofe last year, could be the first woman in Nebraska to receive the death penalty.
Boswell’s co-conspirator, Aubrey Trail, was sentenced to death just weeks earlier.
Thursday, the defense focused on mitigating circumstances.
“The big question I think everybody is going to ask is how did Bailey Boswell end up with Mr. Trail and get involved in this situation,” said Todd Lancaster, Boswell’s attorney.
Lancaster pointed out how Boswell was a star athlete in high school, went to college on a basketball scholarship, but ended up in an abusive relationship with a man with whom she had her child.
He said the trauma that Boswell has gone through affected her development, noting that an adolescent’s brain isn’t fully developed until the age of 25 and trauma can hinder that.
Lancaster also said Boswell qualifies for a family sympathy mitigation, as she has a 5-year-old daughter and has a mother, father and grandmother she talks to “almost daily.”
Assistant Attorney General Doug Warner countered stating that Boswell sought out a sugar daddy, and that is how her relationship with Trail started.
The defense brought in Corrections Director Scott Frakes who said he would have to draft policy language to her needs if she gets the death sentence.
According to Frakes, inmates on death row would get very minimal contact with the general population of inmates.
Although solitary confinement is defined in the Corrections Policy, Frakes said it is not used in the Nebraska prison systems.
As of now, Frakes is unsure if Boswell would be able to be housed and allowed to interact with other death row inmates. He also noted how only 9% of the state’s prison system is women.
Next to the stand was Susan Michalski, a registered nurse who specializes in domestic violence.
Lancaster asked Michalski why someone would stay in an abusive relationship that could include the possibility of trauma bonding, financial constraints and having family threatened.
“Traumatic bonding is part of that relationship that early on is kind of gets seeded in the relationship and it’s a bonding that becomes traumatic over a period of time,” Michalski said. “It parallels with what is happening with systemic or methodical isolation.”
She noted the perpetrating partner will find what is most important to the victim and use it against them.
