Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
GENOA – A Genoa woman was trying get away from her husband, who had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the state’s legal limit for driving, when she stabbed him in the chest and killed him, according to police reports. Giving few details, police and prosecutors announced in June that Kendra Burno, 43, acted in self-defense May 14 when she stabbed her husband, Jene Burno, in their Genoa home.
At the time of the announcement, officials didn’t say what specifically made Kendra Burno feel as though her life or physical well-being were in imminent danger.
A person is justified in the use of force likely to cause death only “if he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or another, or commission of a forcible felony,” according to the Illinois criminal code.
After getting in an argument with her husband, Kendra Burno told police that Jene Burno had been drinking and was trying to keep her in the house as she was struggling to get away from him. She picked up scissors, and later a knife, hoping that he would leave her alone. She also had tried to call police, but he had thwarted her efforts, she told police.
Panicked and feeling cornered in the home’s craft room, Kendra Burno stabbed her husband after breaking away from him, according to police reports.
She then rushed to a neighbor’s house to call 911, according to police reports.
Toxicology tests on Jene Burno after his death showed he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.197 percent, records show.