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I want to commend attorneys Caitlinrose Fisher and Matthew Forsgren for successfully appealing the conviction of Stephanie Clark for second-degree murder of her violent boyfriend ("Woman wins appeal in shooting," March 31).

In 1959, my Aunt Lila shot and killed her husband following seven years of violent beatings, having a knife held to her throat and a gun waved at her head and at her baby boy. She was charged with second-degree murder and went to trial in Crow Wing County, Minnesota. In a memoir titled "To Be Brave," the trauma of our family's experience with domestic violence is recounted in detail. Domestic violence is so laden with shame and humiliation for the victim; it is hidden from family and friends. For the perpetrator it is about control at any cost to the partner and children. For families impacted by domestic violence, it becomes the family secret.

The most often asked question is, why don't women leave? Hennepin County Attorney Krista White said that Clark "had every opportunity to leave or make different choices that night," which reveals a lack of understanding of what women in these situations are up against. Women remain because they often have no resources. They are simply trying to survive and protect their children. The better asked question is, why are men so violent?

Research shows that when women become violent, the main motivation is self-defense. Women with the fewest options commit violence against partners. Sadly, many of these women are convicted due to a lack of understanding about the means of control and escalating cycles of domestic violence.

In 1959, our family experienced a miracle. Due to the skilled legal work of attorney Joe Ryan, a jury was educated and my Aunt Lila was found not guilty.

My Aunt Lila was one of the women who survived. As Clark's trial lawyer, Eric Doolittle, said, victims are often killed, but when they kill their abusers in self-defense, victims are prosecuted. It is now 64 years later and, finally, people are being asked to take a critical look at how we prosecute battered women.

Karla McGray, Minneapolis

Here is a commonsense solution to the issue of whether the newly created Community Commission on Police Oversight should include members with police ties ("Panel applicants with police ties draw critics," April 7). The settlement agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights requires Minneapolis to develop "a strategy for the community oversight commission to appoint a diverse group of community members that represent a cross-section of the Minneapolis community." I suggest we focus on the last two words: "Minneapolis community." If Minneapolis limits membership on this commission to people who care so deeply about Minneapolis that they actually live in Minneapolis, the issue will largely be resolved. This is because, as this paper periodically reminds us, the vast majority of Minneapolis police, including Scott Gerlicher, the commission applicant and one of the retired Minneapolis deputy police chiefs quoted in the article, live in the suburbs.

Elizabeth Buckingham, Minneapolis

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I'm not a police officer, but I'd like to think I can imagine someone in that position.

That officer would see as his responsibility and duty to proactively prevent crime. That would entail knowing how to spot potential criminals. If criminals in past arrests have used vehicles with outdated tabs or malfunctioning lights, it would just seem logical to stop the people that are violating those minor traffic laws.

I believe the new Minneapolis rules about eliminating traffic stops for minor violations ultimately do two things: One, they embolden criminals into thinking that laws are no longer valid and will increase crime in the city. Two, they destroy some of the incentive for officers to prevent crime. After all, if some laws can be broken with no consequences, where is the line between law and order and illegal activity?

Once again, the powers in charge have gone too far. We need good police officers in our city to respect and protect all the people in our community. We also need to respect and empower our officers with the power to do their jobs. Those two issues need not be mutually exclusive.

Leo Vander Broek, Minneapolis

It appears that Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison capitulated to public pressure to interfere in the prosecutorial discretion of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty ("Ellison takes over murder case," April 7). The fact that the AG appeared at a gathering with the victim's family and other members of the community to announce his views a day before his plan was implemented is incomprehensible and appears to be politically motivated. What is the AG's relationship to the family or the other community activists who pressed for his involvement? The fact that he and Walz stepped on political ally Moriarty is another story unto itself. This is a worrisome situation for every county attorney in the state as they now need to worry about the AG and the governor succumbing to public pressure to interfere in the process. In the future I suggest both stay in their lanes and allow county attorneys to do the difficult jobs to which they were elected.

Kelley P. Boyum, Lakeville

The March 16 story "Planned bioindustrial facility looks to Legislature for help" was really interesting. BioMADE asked the Minnesota Legislature for $100 million. This is on top of the $450 million the Minnesota-based nonprofit received last month from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Most of the state's economic development already goes to manufacturing, technology and other businesses that have other ways to get capital. They get 3.5 times more funding than small businesses. Entrepreneurs who are Black, American Indian and people of color especially lose out under the state's lopsided investments.

It's disheartening to watch the state consider even more public funds for BioMade members like 3M, Cargill, Lockheed Martin and other household names.

As small-business owners who do not come from generational wealth, we have truly bootstrapped every aspect of our businesses. Now is the time for the Legislature and governor to invest a tiny slice, 1%, of Minnesota's ongoing budget surplus in local entrepreneurs.

This letter was submitted by Adam Kado and Hosie Thurmond, owners of Slice, a pizza restaurant in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Shawn Hopman, owner of Ya-Sure Kombucha in Brainerd, Minn.

Baseball games have gotten longer — thanks to all the commercials inserted, more so than players dawdling ("Play ball, and hurry up," Other Views, April 6). There is some dawdling, yes, with pitchers maybe putting something on the ball. But, hey, that's baseball, the charm of it. As is a fearsome pitcher mowing them down for nine innings, like Bob Gibson or Don Drysdale. Not a parade of relievers. Or a radio or TV discussion of analytics.

When I was in high school in the 1950s, the four World Series were almost all in the Eastern time zone, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Central, and almost all were over by the buzzer for 1 p.m. classes. One that went over a bit was Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956. We were shooed out of the little TV room. One of us — not me, I regret to say — refused to leave. About 15 minutes into geometry class, Bob came in and announced, "He did it! Don Larsen pitched a perfect game!" He would have been in a bit sooner had my hero Yogi Berra not dropped a pop foul. Larsen got the batter to hit another such foul, which Yogi caught.

Jim Lein, Minneapolis

Clarification: A letter stating that the former Minneapolis deputy police chief quoted in an April 7 article about applicants for the city's new Community Commission on Police Oversight was referring to Scott Gerlicher, who lives in Minnetonka. Another former Minneapolis deputy police chief quoted in the article, Greg Hestness, lives in the city.