TRINIDAD, Colo. -- A prosecutor says he won't file charges against a woman in the shooting death of her husband, Trinidad lawyer Jim Tatum, because she was a victim of domestic violence.

District Attorney Rod Fouracre said Tuesday he won't charge Ann Tatum in the November 2007 shooting at the couple's home in Weston, 20 miles west of Trinidad and 70 miles south of Pueblo.

The Las Animas County Sheriff's Department said Jim Tatum had slapped and punched his wife when she took a .38-caliber gun from her purse and shot him.

The shooting was witnessed by a Las Animas County sheriff's deputy who was staying with the couple that night. He also saw Jim Tatum strike his wife several times prior to the shooting and tried to intervene. The deputy was hit in the head and momentarily dazed by the blow.

The husband and wife struggled over a .45-caliber handgun that Jim Tatum retrieved after he was shot and he was shot again during the struggle.

"Given the knowledge of Mrs. Tatum as to Mr. Tatum's prior violence, and the violence he inflicted upon her on Nov, 29, 2007, I feel it would not be proper to charge her for killing Mr. Tatum," Fouracre said in a statement.

Jim Tatum was Las Animas county attorney until 2003, when his contract was not renewed. He then opened a law office in Trinidad.