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Betty Jane Harder pleaded guilty to manslaughter on June 8, 2011, and received a 10-year sentence for the death of her husband, 53-year-old Ross Harder, who was found shot in the head in the kitchen of their Bullitt County, Kentucky, home.

Harder, then 44, had called 911 around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2010, from the couple's home on South Shore Drive, according to police and a recording released by Shepherdsville Police. "I accidentally shot my husband," she told the dispatcher. "I need help, please," she said.

Asked repeatedly whether her husband was conscious and what had happened, Harder said, "We was having a scuffle," but did not explain what the argument was about or why a gun was out. She said she had bought the gun herself.

Officers arriving at the home found Ross Harder's body in the kitchen, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Harder told the dispatcher two of the couple's three teenage sons were home at the time; police said the boys later went to stay with their grandparents.

Shepherdsville Police Capt. Ken Bernardi said the address had not previously drawn attention from officers. "I do not know the folks and I did not recognize the lady from the picture in the booking," he said, describing the neighborhood as quiet. Court records show police had actually been called to the Harder home 17 times since 2004, though only once for a domestic violence complaint.

Harder was charged with murder, held on a $1 million cash bond and ordered to undergo a mental evaluation. More than a year later, she pleaded guilty not to murder but to manslaughter, a deal that carried a 10-year sentence rather than a potential life term. An assistant Commonwealth's attorney, Michael Ferguson, told the court the victim's family had agreed to the reduced charge in part because of Harder's documented mental health history and to spare themselves a lengthy trial.

The hearing grew tense as Ross Harder's relatives addressed the court directly. "You just destroyed all of us," his sister Teresa Hatcher said. Another sister, Nancy Harder, said Harder "went out and bought a gun and took it into her home and she shot her husband in the back of the head. She knew what she was doing." Harder's own sister, Judy Rice, argued for leniency, saying Harder had been abused by her husband for years before the shooting. The judge accepted the 10-year sentence; Harder became eligible for parole the following year.