When York Police detectives found the body of John Jack Bevens on his bathroom floor

surrounded by blood and shell casings, it was obvious they were dealing with a homicide.

But what unfolded from that April afternoon in 1990 was a complex criminal case and a defense never before seen at trial in the state of Maine.

Are there exceptions to murder?

That's what the defense was prepared to argue for their client,

the victim's wife, Jacqueline Bevins.

Their own investigation into the life and marriage of Jackie and Jack

painted a clear picture of why Jackie believed that pulling the trigger was her only option.

If the end of this story leaves you feeling conflicted,

that makes two of us.

I'm Kylie Lowe and this is the Jack and Jackie Bevin's case, part two on Dark Down East. This series contains descriptions of domestic abuse and violence.

Please listen with care. violence. At the end of a tree-lined driveway, off a seaside dirt road, just a gulls caa away from one of

means most picturesque lighthouses, detectives enrobe the home of Jack and Jackie Bevins with yellow crime scene tape.

York Police Detective Kevin Laconti had just discovered the body of Jack Bevins in a pool of his

own blood in the bathroom. The scene was teaming with

police and crime scene technicians collecting every last one of the over a

dozen shell casings littering the tile floor.

According to the Bitterford Journal Tribune,

it appeared that a struggle preceded the shooting,

and before that, Jack might have been getting out of the bathtub as he was found nude.

Detective surveyed the rest of the Bevin's property and noted that two trucks believed to

belong to Jack and Jackie were parked in the driveway, but Jackie's signature

...