When Surviving Looks Like a Crime: Lawyer London Sneden's New Article

2 days ago
3 min read

Texas post-conviction attorney London Sneden has written a new article about a pattern she sees in file after file: an inmate who endured years of abuse, reacted once, and was convicted on the strength of a recording his or her her abuser made of that moment. The pattern has a name now, reactive abuse, and this year it went from a term in domestic-violence research to a national conversation.

The article, When Surviving Looks Like a Crime: Reactive Abuse, Recorded “Evidence,” and the Women Serving Texas Prison Sentences for Fighting Back, is written for individuals serving Texas sentences for conduct that grew out of their own abuse, for the families trying to help them, and for anyone trying to understand how a victim ends up as a defendant.

Read the full 11-page article:

“The evidence that convicted her was, in a very real sense, curated by the man who abused her. He knew what she looked like at her breaking point because he had spent years engineering it. When it mattered, he was calm, composed, and believable. She was frantic, loud, and ‘crazy.’ One of them looked like a victim that day. It was not her.”

Why This Article Matters

Most people who saw the viral recordings this year (the Taylor Frankie Paul clip, the Depp-Heard trial, the Gabby Petito traffic stop) sorted two strangers into “abuser” and “victim” in under a minute. London explains why the same forty-five-second logic plays out in Texas courtrooms, except there the audience wears a badge or a robe and the consequences are permanent. Texas law has real tools for a defendant who reacted to her abuser: a Family Code definition that excludes defensive measures, an evidence article written for battered defendants, a provocation doctrine that requires pretext, and a changed-science writ that can reopen old convictions. Too often, none of them reach the jury.

What London Tackles

Across eleven pages, London answers questions on:

What “reactive abuse” actually means, and why many advocates prefer “reactive defense” or “violent resistance.”
The “provoke, record, stay calm” tactic, and what the research on DARVO (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender) says about how well it works on police, judges, and juries.
Why everyone is suddenly talking about this: the Taylor Frankie Paul recording, the Depp-Heard trial, and the Gabby Petito traffic stop.
The numbers: what federal and state data show about how many incarcerated women are survivors of abuse.
How Texas law turns a reacting victim into a felon: family violence enhancements, the deferred adjudication trap, strangulation and deadly weapon charges, and why self-defense is strong on paper but fragile in these cases.
The evidence that wins these cases (family violence history, expert testimony on the psychology of abuse under Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.36), and what happens when a trial lawyer never offers it.
Sudden passion, and the difference between life and twenty years.
What can still be done after the conviction: direct appeal, the Article 11.07 writ, the changed-science writ under article 11.073, clemency, and the federal one-year clock too few families hear about.
What a family can do right now to preserve the pattern before it disappears.

London is candid about the odds. Most post-conviction applications are denied, and nothing in the article is a promise. She is specific about what separates the applications that succeed: evidence, developed early and thoroughly.

“The jury deliberated on the recording because the recording was all anyone gave them. When that happens, the conviction may not just be tragic. It may be constitutionally infirm, and that is where my work begins.”

Who Should Read It

This article is for anyone serving a Texas sentence for conduct that grew out of the abuse she suffered, for the family members trying to understand whether the case deserves a second look, and for anyone living this right now who wants to know what to preserve. Deadlines in Texas post-conviction work are strict, and, as London writes, evidence gets harder to find every year.

About London Sneden

London Sneden is a Texas post-conviction attorney who handles direct appeals, Article 11.07 writs of habeas corpus, federal writs, and other post-conviction filings, working alongside attorney Matthew Daher on Texas cases. She earned her Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University Law School and is licensed to practice in Texas, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

For a consultation on a Texas criminal appeal or post-conviction case, contact our office at (737) 338-3233.