The Burning Bedis both a 1980non-fictionbook byFaith McNultyabout batteredhousewifeFrancine Hughes, and a 1984 TV-movie adaptation written by Rose Leiman Goldemberg. The plot follows Hughes' trial for the murder of her husband, James Berlin "Mickey" Hughes, following her setting fire to the bed he was sleeping in at theirDansville, Michiganhome on March 9, 1977, and thirteen years of physicaldomestic abuseat his hands.
Plot
On March 9, 1977, Francine Hughes, following thirteen years of physicaldomestic abuseat the hands of her husband, James Berlin "Mickey" Hughes, tells their children to put their coats on and wait for her in their car. She then pours gasoline around the bed in which Mickey is sleeping in their home inDansville, Michigan, and sets the bed afire. After the house catches fire, Hughes drives with her children to the local police station in order to confess to the act. Hughes is tried forfirst degree murder, and is found by a jury of her peers to be not guilty by reason oftemporary insanity. It is widely believed that the judge and the jury largely sympathized with Francine's plight and felt that Mickey's murder was a justifiable action.
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