Prosecutors are seeking the retrial of a woman whose conviction for murdering her abusive partner while he slept was quashed, the Court of Appeal in Belfast heard on Friday.
But lawyers representing Julie Ann McIlwaine (35) claimed an alternative verdict of manslaughter should be reached over the fatal stabbing of James Joseph Crossley.
Senior judges confirmed they would deal with the competing arguments next month.
McIlwaine, who has been serving a minimum 12-year jail term, remains in custody pending a final determination. Crossley (38) was knifed to death at her former home in the Dunmurry area in March 2022.
She admitted killing her partner but denied the murder charge, claiming to have suffered a temporary loss of control as a victim of domestic abuse.
The pair had been in a relationship marred by emotional manipulation and coercive control.
At the time of his death Crossley was on bail for an alleged assault against McIlwaine and subject to a restraining order prohibiting any contact with her.
Despite a period of separation, they had re-established their relationship by the night of the killing.
Previous courts heard that Crossley took medication and went to sleep following arguments in which he issued an ultimatum for McIlwaine to choose between him and her family.
During police interviews the defendant said it all got on top of her and that she considered taking her own life.
She described taking a knife from the kitchen, returning to the bedroom and moving their young child out of the way before repeatedly stabbing her sleeping partner.
The prosecution argued she made rational choices that demonstrated being in control of her actions.
In October 2024 a jury rejected McIlwaine’s case and returned a unanimous guilty verdict.
However, earlier this month she won a legal bid to overturn her conviction for murder.
Defence lawyers successfully argued that jurors were misdirected and reached a verdict that went against the weight of expert evidence.
Central to the appeal was how the trial judge advised them on the legal test for the loss-of-control defence.
Instead of being asked to decide whether someone of similar characteristics to McIlwaine “might” have reacted similarly, the question posed was “would” that person have acted in the same way.
The wording used was found to have wrongly imposed a higher threshold for establishing probability.
Further issues related to opinions from two consultant forensic psychiatrists on the psychological impact of prolonged abuse and the responses of victims in coercively controlling relationships.
In court on Friday, Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan disclosed: “There is an application for a retrial.”
Prosecution counsel Richard Weir confirmed the request to re-run the case on the charge of murder.
But barrister Eilis McDermott, representing McIlwaine, argued for an alternative outcome.
“Our submission is that the court should consider substituting a verdict [of manslaughter],” she said.
With a number of other legal issues also still to be determined, proceedings were adjourned until early November.