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In a rare interview from her home in southern Oregon, Wendy Maldonado – who was released from prison in March after spending a decade behind bars for killing her abusive husband – tells People that not a day goes by when she doesn’t savor her freedom.

“It hasn’t worn off,” the 47-year-old mother of four grown sons says. “It probably never will.”

Maldonado told police that she had no choice but to kill her husband Aaron in the early morning hours of May 1, 2005, after enduring years of relentless, sadistic abuse. On that morning, she and her then 16-year-old son Randy...

Earlier this week, Wendy Maldonado stood inside a metal cage, clutching her belongings in a paper bag at a prison in Wilsonville, Oregon, where she has spent the past decade for killing her abusive husband. The rain had just let up, but it was cold and windy as she watched the guards slowly unlock the two gates that separated her from the outside world. She wondered if she was dreaming, she says. "Everything felt like it wasn't happening," Maldonado tells People in an exclusive interview from a relative's home in Grants Pass, Oregon. "It didn't seem real. But as soon...