‘A murderer I am not': Woman tells judge she was abused before killing

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — After rare snowfall this January, a DeKalb County cop reported following footprints trailing away from the body of a slain man and found Sasha McCalop covered in blood.

She was charged with murder after telling police she’d been in a struggle with Michael Martin, which led her to stab him, authorities have said. In a letter to Judge Linda Hunter last month, McCalop said more:

“A murderer I am not,” she wrote. “I have been in an abusive relationship with the victim for the last three years. I know your (sic) saying to yourself why didn’t you get out. I was in love!”

Because she didn’t report the alleged abuse to police, the allegations couldn’t immediately be verified. McCalop says she didn’t report him because she didn’t want him to be taken away from his child.

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She says many men in her life abused her, making her associate violence with love.

She points out, though, that she has no violent record.

In the letter, McCalop doesn’t address the death, which happened off I-20 in the Gresham Park area.

The judge wasn’t swayed by the defendant’s argument when considering a request for bond. Hunter denied the request last week, meaning McCalop will have to remain in the county jail, where she’s been since the killing on Jan. 18.

On the bond form, the reasoning Hunter wrote to justify denying the request was that the defendant has a “history of violence against the victim,” though it isn’t clear what she means.

This article was written by Joshua Sharpe with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Cox Media Group