Tina Talbot Case: Shooting, Sentence, and Clemency Petition

The Tina Talbot case involves a Waterford Township, Michigan, woman who shot and killed her husband, Milosz Szczepanowicz, in September 2018 after what she described as more than 20 years of physical and sexual abuse. Talbot pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, was sentenced to 20 months to 15 years, and walked out of prison in November 2020. She has since become a public advocate for domestic violence survivors.

What Happened on September 14, 2018

Talbot, then 51, shot her 45-year-old husband twice in the backyard of their home on Meadowood Drive.¹ She called 911 at 11:42 a.m. and confessed. Police found the body in the yard and arrested her at the scene.²

Talbot was hospitalized after her arrest. Photographs taken by police documented broken ribs, a broken arm, a ruptured spleen, and partially collapsed lungs, injuries she said she had sustained in the days before the shooting.² Her seven-year-old son, Phillip, who has autism and is nonverbal, was inside the home. He was not hurt.¹

The Abuse Talbot Described

Talbot told investigators and later testified in court that Szczepanowicz had physically and sexually abused her for more than two decades.³ Her defense attorney, Jerome Sabbota, said the shooting followed “a several-day stretch of beatings and sexual abuse” during which her husband also threatened their son.⁴

At sentencing, Talbot testified that in the week before the shooting, Szczepanowicz had explicitly threatened to slit their son’s throat and told her he intended to kill them both that day. She said the shooting came after he chased her with a gun.¹ Her clemency application listed injuries from that period including a lacerated spleen, two partially collapsed lungs, a broken arm, a broken wrist, a damaged sternum, and severe thigh trauma.⁵

The victim’s family disputed the abuse allegations. His mother, Teresa Szczepanowicz, denied that her son was abusive. His sister, Daniela Szczepanowicz, described him publicly as “a kind and caring person.”⁶

The Charge, the Plea, and the Sentence

Talbot was initially charged with open murder and felony firearm. In February 2019, in Oakland County Circuit Court, she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the more serious charges being dropped. The deal capped her minimum sentence at 29 months.⁴

On April 4, 2019, Oakland County Circuit Judge Martha Anderson sentenced Talbot to 20 months to 15 years in prison and ordered her to pay more than $30,000 in restitution.⁷ Judge Anderson said, “Ms. Talbot was severely abused in this relationship, but the taking of another life is still a crime, and that has to be accounted for.”² Szczepanowicz’s mother and brother asked the court for the maximum sentence.¹

The Petition and Clemency Request

A Change.org petition titled “#PardonforTina” gathered nearly 260,000 signatures and became the top-trending petition in the categories of criminal justice, women’s rights, and domestic violence.² On July 31, 2019, her attorneys delivered a formal clemency application to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office and the Michigan Department of Corrections.⁵

The governor’s office responded that under Michigan law, every clemency application must first go to the parole board for investigation and recommendation, and noted that pardons and commutations have historically been rare.⁵ The pardon was never granted.

The Family’s Attempt to Block Her Parole

On July 21, 2020, the Michigan Parole Board granted Talbot parole and set her release for November 17, 2020.⁷ The Szczepanowicz family filed an appeal in Oakland County Circuit Court on October 19, 2020, seeking to block the release. Daniela Szczepanowicz argued that Talbot “had many options” other than killing her brother and called the shooting a deliberate execution.⁸

On November 5, 2020, Oakland County Circuit Judge Daniel P. O’Brien denied the appeal, ruling that it “lacked merit” and citing procedural violations in how and when it had been filed.⁶ A follow-up appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals was also dismissed.⁹

Release and Life Since

Talbot walked out of the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti at 5:30 a.m. on November 17, 2020, after serving her 20-month minimum.¹⁰ She was placed on parole for 24 months.² COVID-19 restrictions had kept her from seeing Phillip since March 2020. He had been living with her parents in Clarkston, and she was working to regain full custody after her release.⁹

“When I did what I did, at the time I did it, I knew that I would go to prison,” Talbot told FOX 2 Detroit. “I was okay with that fact because it was more important to save my son and not worry about the consequences.”¹¹

Since her release, Talbot has spoken publicly about domestic violence and has said she wants Michigan law changed to allow expert testimony on Battered Woman Syndrome as a legal defense, an option that was not available to her.⁹ In May 2025 she was the featured speaker at the Women’s Resource Center’s 50th anniversary event in Traverse City, moderated by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina.¹² The center’s executive director, Juliette Schultz, acknowledged that inviting Talbot had “sparked both support and controversy.”¹³

“I can come home to my house and not worry about what I’m going to walk into,” Talbot told Interlochen Public Radio in 2025. “My house is actually my house now.”¹⁴

1
ClickOnDetroit. Waterford Township Woman Details Alleged Abuse She Endured Before Killing Her Husband
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Detroit Free Press. Tina Talbot Free After 20 Months in Prison for Killing Abusive Husband
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WXYZ Detroit. Tina Talbot Gives First Interview Since Being Freed From Prison
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The Oakland Press. Waterford Township Woman Takes Plea Deal for Killing Husband
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Detroit Free Press. Tina Talbot Clemency Application Delivered to Whitmer
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The Oakland Press. Tina Talbot’s Scheduled Parole to Move Forward
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ClickOnDetroit. Waterford Township Woman Convicted of Manslaughter Expected to Be Released From Prison
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Detroit Free Press. Tina Talbot Parole and Domestic Violence
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Detroit Free Press. Tina Talbot’s Mission and Message for Battered Women
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ClickOnDetroit. Tina Talbot Topic Page
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FOX 2 Detroit. Let It Rip Weekend Interview With Tina Talbot
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Women’s Resource Center. WRC Events
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Up North Live. Abuse Survivor Tina Talbot to Speak at Traverse City’s Women’s Resource Center Event
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Interlochen Public Radio. Abuse Survivor Tina Talbot to Tell Her Story at Traverse City Event