The couple walk along the streets of the neighbourhood, on a nice quiet day : - My love, I beg you: "Tell me you love me". - Dear, you know perfectly well that you're my only love. It's three years that you ask me the same question. I repeat for the umpteenth time that you will always be my only love. There isn't and never will be another woman in my life apart from you. I understand that you're a possessive woman, but there's no reason to be so jealous. I have always been faithful to you. This morbid jealousy will one day lead to your death.

   The two women have know each other since they were children because they attended the same schools.

- Between me and Jean-Marc there has always been harmony, nevertheless in the last few months, when we make love, he never reaches his orgasm, which gives the impression that he only makes love to me as a conjugal duty and not for real pleasure. Maybe he loves another woman?

- Marie, my dear, how can you think Jean-Marc loves someone else! You're such a happy couple. I think that after three years of marriage there can be a drop in libido, but this doesn't mean that he loves someone else. I know your husband well and I swear that he would never ever betray you with another woman.

- You're right, sometimes my jealousy blinds me. Just yesterday I eavesdropped in his study. Jean-Marc was talking on his mobile phone, I hid behind the door so he didn't see me, I didn't understand what he was talking about, but before ending the conversation, I clearly heard the following words: "See you Tuesday afternoon at five, as usual".

- Don't worry, it was just a normal work conversation with his boss.

- I hope so for his good.

- Hello, it's Louise.

- Darling, how are you?

- I'm worried, dear. This morning I met that idiot wife of yours, I think she suspects something.  She confessed to me that yesterday she spied on you while you were on the phone, luckily she didn't understand our conversation. Maybe we should postpone our appointment tomorrow?

- You know I desire you, I don't want to postpone our appointment. My wife is in her shop at that time, no one can disturb us. Everything will be fine and then it's not the first time that we make love at my house.

- Ok Jean-Marc see you tomorrow.

- Take care.
 

- You're the woman that I have always desired, all I do is think about you every moment.

- Darling, I also desire you, I beg you kiss me again.

In the bedroom, the two lovers let out all their passion:
 

  - Marie, I can explain everything! exclaims Jean-Marc.

- You bastard, son of a bitch, what's there to explain? Now I'll kill you both!

Marie filled with rage takes her gun out of her bag and points it at the two lovers:

Jean-Marc, stammering: "I beg you if you kill us you will be sentenced to death".

- My life no longer has any meaning.

Louise, crying: "Marie forgive me!"

- LOVE DOESN'T FORGIVE.

- Bang, bang, bang..........bang!
 
 

The bodies of the two lovers are covered in blood and sprawled on the bed, lifeless.

Marie with extreme coldness, phones the police.

- Hello is this the local police station?
- Yes, how may I help you?
- My name is Marie, I've just killed my husband and his lover, I'm at my house.

- Madam, there are only a few days left before the execution, but we can still hope for a
commutation of the sentence. I need you to declare that you are "mentally insane".

- I'm sorry lawyer, but I'm not crazy, when I killed them I wanted to do it and I didn't hesitate to shoot.

- Do you realise that this is your last chance?

- Thanks anyway, but I'm ready to die. I only have one last desire to express, as soon as possible go to the cemetery where Jean-Marc is buried and place a bunch of red roses on his tomb for me.  Deep down even if he betrayed me, I have always loved him.

- It will be done.

The day of the execution has arrived, Marie sadly sets off towards the death-chamber.

The tragic ritual is about to take place. The prison director, turning towards the woman asks her:

- Before the sentence is executed do you have any final declarations to make?

- None.

- OK, we'll proceed.

The executioner, as if following a script, first immobilises her arms and legs with straps, then places a white hood over her head and finally fixes the noose behind her left ear.

Marie, till the end shows no signs of repentance, tears or complaints.
Now she just waits for the green light to come on which automatically opens the trapdoor.
The seconds seem endless, but then the green light goes on, the trapdoor opens and the woman plunges into emptiness.
 

The moment the rope tightens a loud rip is heard. Her death is not instantaneous because the witnesses present in the room see the body convulse for several seconds.

- They are just nervous reflexes, but the woman is unconscious! exclaims the doctor.

Then with his stethoscope he starts listening to her heartbeat which becomes fainter as the
minutes pass, until they cease completely.

At this point the prison guards let fall a white curtain along the walls of the execution room and the witnesses are asked to leave. The macabre ritual is over.

From the first external examination, one notes the presence of a constant and uniform abrasion the width of a thumb along the neck. The marks have been caused by the pressure exerted by the noose through the suspension of her body.
Her eyes are wide open and her tongue sticks slightly out of her mouth.
The autopsy has furthermore confirmed that death was caused by inhibition of the nervous system due to lesions to the vertebrae, from the judicial hanging.

Hearing this story, it seems to me that Marie's death penalty was "too cruel" a punishment considering that it was a crime of passion. In these cases, the maximum foreseen sentence is life imprisonment, but after having carefully read the trial documentation, I have come to know that during the trial Marie admitted to having overheard the entire telephone conversation between her husband and Louise, while she was hiding behind the study door. She lied to her friend when she confided that she had only heard the last part of the conversation clearly. She made Louise believe that she didn't know about their relationship, therefore not impeding the two from meeting
in her apartment the next day. In fact, that meeting was a real "deadly trap" which Marie set for the two lovers so as to catch them in the act of adultery.
The Public Prosecutor's office came to the following conclusion: the motive is passion, but the double murder is premeditated. I can conclude, that in this case the death penalty was the correct sentence.