An Infamous Sentence: The Death of Sandra Peacock

In February 1994, a Maryland woman was killed by her husband after he found her in bed with another man. This case became notorious because of his sentence: just 18 months. The judge was harshly criticized for his remarks.

Justice didn’t win this time. Domestic violence won. Alcoholism also played a part.

Remember Sandra as a Victim of Domestic Violence. (Source: Department of Human Services page on Help for Victims of Domestic Violence.)

The Fateful Night

On February 9, 1994, Sandra Kaye Sloan Peacock was shot and killed by her husband, trucker Kenneth Lee Peacock, in Parkton, Maryland (a rural area in Baltimore County, close to the Pennsylvania state line). She was just 31 years old, and he was 36.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Peacock came home earlier than expected, despite bad weather conditions — only to catch Sandra in bed with another man. Peacock chased him out at gunpoint.

The other man, Bruce Leslie Morgan, was interviewed later. Both he and Sandra got drunk at a bar and went back to her place. It seems not much happened (because Morgan was so drunk). He woke up around midnight when Peacock held a rifle to him. Somehow, Morgan ended up on the porch, still confused. Yet he was long gone by the time the gun was fired.

Much of the coverage made it sound as if Peacock shot his wife in bed right after finding her with another man. Instead, he stewed in his…