Trauma drove woman to cut off husband’s penis-lawyer

Catherine Kieu sits next to her attorney, deputy public defender, Frank Bittar, before opening statements Wednesday, April 17, 2013 in Santa Ana, Calif. Kieu is charged with cutting off a man’s penis and throwing it into a garbage disposal. Investigators say Kieu lived with the 60-year-old victim and the pair got into an argument over a future houseguest’s visit. Authorities allege that after the man went to sleep, Kieu tied him to the bed and severed the organ. Kieu faces a possible life prison sentence if convicted. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, ) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT

SANTA ANA, California—The attorney for a Southern California woman charged with severing the penis of her estranged husband said she “had a break from reality” the night of the attack.

Orange County Deputy Public Defender Frank Bittar said during closing arguments Thursday that Catherine Kieu had been through a lifetime of trauma and abuse and snapped the night she drugged her husband, cut off his penis and threw it in the garbage disposal in 2011.

The jury is scheduled to begin deliberating Monday on charges of torture and aggravated mayhem that could get the 50-year-old Kieu life in prison.

Prosecutors said in their closing arguments that Kieu was driven by jealous anger, not trauma, and showed her intentions by her thorough planning before the attack.