A jury on Friday freed a woman charged with killing her husband after she complained she had been suffering from premenstrual syndrome. The jury took two hours to deliver a not guilty verdict for Jan Painter, 34, who stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife after he took money from her purse.

During a three-day trial, the jury heard how Painter was suffering from severe PMS when she stabbed her husband, James, 44. She testified that he had slapped her and then impaled himself. Experts estimate that PMS affects up to 30 percent of women of childbearing age. In a small number of cases it causes extreme behavior.