Circuit Judge Thomas J. Brown III explained to a packed courtroom that Ms. Burns fired two gunshots at Troy Burns in self-defense. The judge acquitted her of second-degree murder, saying that the fatal shot was justifiable homicide.

However, a third shot, which was not fatal, was not self-defense, and therefore Brown ruled that Ms. Burns was guilty of attempted murder in the second degree.

"That sounds unusual because the, man died in this case, but the court found he didn’t die of that shot," Brown said.

Brown rendered the verdict at the conclusion of a two-day trial. The defense had waived its right to have a jury hear the case.

The judge will wait for a presentence investigation to be completed before deciding her punishment. The Jefferson City woman faces a possible sentence of five to 15 years.

Ms. Burns, 35, was accused of fatally shooting Burns, 41, during a confrontation at his St. Thomas home op Dec. 18, 1996. She testified that Burns was coming at her when she fired the first two shots, but he was lying on the floor when she shot him the third time to relieve him from suffering.

The defendant claimed she was subjected to years of physical and mental abuse by Troy Burns starting two months after they were married.

"I don’t believe that excuses the third shot," said Brown. "You testified that self-defense was not your motivation for it.

Two psychiatrists presented contradictory testimony on Wednesday. One doctor said Ms. Burns suffered from battered spouse syndrome, a condition that the defense used to bolster the claim she was defending herself when Burns lunged at her during a dispute.

"She lived under the constant threat that he would kill her," testified Dr. Glenna Burton who has treated the defendant since 1993. "She knew she couldn’t leave because he would find her and kill her."

She divorced Burns in 1983 after a two-year marriage, but later lived with him before separating again. They had two children.

A prosecution psychiatrist ' disagreed with the defense claim that she feared for her life on the night of the shooting. Dr. John Wisner claimed that Ms. Burns’ behavior didn’t fit the pattern of battered spouse syndrome.

"Their separation was brought about by her insistence," he testified. "She warned him that if his behavior didn’t change, she was going to leave him, and she did that."

On Wednesday, Barbara Faye Clas, Stephanie Burns’ mother, testified that Troy broke into the Clas home and threatened to’ kill. Stephanie, himself and the couple’s children.

"He told me, ‘I’m going to blow her ... brains out before I let her take my kids away from me," Mrs. Clas said.

The defense called four men to the stand who identified themselves as residents of the St. Thomas area. They claimed Burns had a reputation for violence.

Taking the witness stand in her own defense, Ms. Burns said Bums dictated to her where she would live, finding an apartment in Jefferson City for her after she moved out of their St. Thomas home. He set a rule that any boyfriend of hers could not stay overnight or see their children at her apartment.

During one incident, he jerked the telephone cord from the wall and smashed the phone to keep her from calling for help, she said. Burns, who was trained in the martial arts, also, choked her, pushed her and twisted her wrist during other, disputes, she testified.

On the day of the shooting, Ms. Burns said she learned her daughter, who was then 11 years old, was having trouble in school. She believed the girl was distraught because Burns was telling their children that he was going to kill their mother.

Ms. Burns said she went to his home to plead with him to stop. Before she left, her daughter urged her to protect herself by taking a gun.

Her daughter testified: "I told her, ‘Mom, please take a gun, please. He’s been talking so much lately about how he was going to kill you."

Ms. Burns decided to take a loaded handgun that her ex-husband had earlier purchased for her so she could defend herself.

Asked why she thought she could reason with Burns, she said: "There had been so many times in our relationship that we could sit down and work things out."

But once she got there, he discussed killing himself and the children, she said. He also said he would never allow her to live if she was going to date other men.

"I faced the devil that night," she said. "Troy Burns was not the man I’d ever seen before; He was out of his head."

As she got up to leave, he ordered her to stay but she refused. She said he started to move toward her, and she pulled out the gun and shot him in the chest.

He sat down, clutched his chest, and then leaped up at her. She said she turned her head away, extended her right arm with the gun in hand and blindly shot in his direction, striking him in the rear of the head.

As he lay on the floor moaning, Ms. Bums, who is a nurse, checked his pulse. She said he couldn’t answer her pleas. Deciding to relieve his suffering, she then lifted his body and shot him in the chest, aiming for but missing his heart.

"I couldn’t take it any more, and I shot him again so he wouldn’t cry," she said.

After phoning her therapist, she called 911 and waited for sheriff’s deputies to arrive. A pathologist testified that it was the shot to his head that killed Burns.

The judge said he would have acquitted Ms. Burns on grounds of self defense if she had stopped at the second shot, but Missouri law does not allow for shooting someone to eliminate suffering.