this is "nightline." >> tonight, fight for freedom. a new york mom behind bars for killing her alleged abuser. >> she would come in with more and more bruising. >> but was it self-defense or murder? nicki adamando speaking out for the first time as calls for her to be granted clemency grow. >> what would you say to governor hochul? >> i desperately feel the weight to empower other survivors before it's too late. >> how her case is offering hope to others. and her kids' christmas wish, to have their mother home for the holidays. plus broadway royalty. audra mcdonald, the six-time

tony award winner and star of the gilded age. >> there's more to life than work. and peggy cannot live your life. >> and private practice. >> i would never leave you alone. >> back on the great white way in "ohio state murders." >> but here, race was foremost. >> why she felt compelled to do the play. >> it's not only, you know, a murder mystery and an indictment of systemic racism within higher education and the country. >> and the surprising details about the show's playwrights. and "barbie." the classic doll come to life in the first-look teaser-trailer that's lighting up social media. eww, bacteria. spreading throughout your home. help stop the spread with microban24. it keeps killing 99.99% of bacteria for up to 24 hours. be confident in your clean. microban24.

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♪ thanks for joining us. tonight, the urgent push to get a young new york mom released from prison after she was convicted of killing the man she repeatedly told people was violently abusing her. nikki addimando's case bringing home to other domestic violence survivors serving hard time as supporters urge governor hochul to grant clemency before the holidays. >> reporter: just outside manhattan in the heart of the hudson valley, a chorus of

voices demanding to be heard. >> for five endless years, nikki has been taken from her two young children. her family, her friends. >> reporter: their cause, to bring one mother, nikki addimando, home. >> nikki should not move through life as a felon, she's not a felon, she's a criminalized survivor. >> reporter: criminalized for what nikki says was violent abuse, physical and sexual, by the father of her two kids. she shot and killed him, she says, after he threatened her life. she's been behind bars ever since. >> she is a wanted member of our community. there is an entire group of people who are willing to welcome her home. >> how do we allow women to experience violence and not adequately protect them? how do we choose to put them in jail, away from their children, when they are forced to defend themselves? >> reporter: for over a year now, her supporters have been urging new york governor kathy hochul to grant nikki clemency. the clock ticking more urgently since commutations are typically

issued around the holidays. >> the governor has an opportunity to speak directly to victims through nikki. it's on her desk. she can rise to the occasion. >> reporter: nikki herself realizing the gravity of the moment, speaking on camera for the first time. >> what would you say to governor hochul? >> i desperately feel the way to empower other survivors before it's too late, before they end up where i am or worse -- >> reporter: despite widespread support for nikki, a petition against her early release, led by the family of her former partner, has garnered more than 1,200 signatures. >> there's nothing gained by nikki addimando or any other domestic violence survivor to be incarcerated any longer. a hard look needs to be taken at the mistakes our criminal justice system makes. >> reporter: nikki's case emblematic of the plight shared by many domestic abuse

survivors. a 2005 report published by the new york state department of corrections stated that 67% of women sent to prison for killing someone close to them were abused by the victim of their crime. >> the system often walks in as if they're going to protect, under all circumstances. in reality, that is not what plays out day to day. they aren't seen, valued, believed, heard, supported. they're criminalized and sentenced to life. >> reporter: nikki's story begins here in poughkeepsie, new york. her number one passion, being a mom. >> what kind of mom? >> she's an incredible mom. she's the best mom i know. i take all my cues from her. i use language because i hear her use that language. >> reporter: she and her partner, chris grover, were raising their young family here. they met when they were both coaching gymnastics. she'd confided in a few people about chris' violent abuse and how it had intensified over the years. >> she would come in with more

and more bruising. it was one of the ways that i was able to clearly tell that the violence was escalating. so at times she came in with marks on her wrists. she would describe being bound while he was assaulting her. >> reporter: she told a friend and a therapist, who was so concerned for her life that she brought in law enforcement. but nikki says she was too scared to sign the paperwork to prompt further investigation. >> 2:00 a.m. in poughkeepsie near this bowling alley. and a police officer who was just out doing rounds drove up behind her, and he ran the air horn. >> and that's when she came out, in the police officer's words, hysterically, and described exactly what happened. >> he's laying on the couch. he's just laying there. >> reporter: earlier that day,

chris had to speak to child protective services after an anonymous caller reported that nikki was often bruised. >> she has testified that he went to work, and when he came home, he looked different than she'd ever seen him look before. she has testified he took out his gun. >> and i said, i don't want to touch it. he handed me bullets. he loaded it a couple times. >> and then hours passed, according to her testimony, he had sex with her against her will. >> when i thought he was asleep, i got up and i went to go get the kids. >> he woke up and pulled the gun from inside the couch. >> reached into the couch, and i kneed him and it fell, and i shot him. >> reporter: nikki was taken into custody after that traffic stop and questioned. but police didn't believe her story of self-defense. instead, they charged her with second-degree murder. it would be months before she

was able to see her children. >> mom, i've never been a day without them. it hurts so badly every day. >> i know, i know, i know. >> and i'm only going to be able to see you guys twice a week. i don't -- what if they don't even remember me when they get to see me? >> reporter: during the trial, nikki testified that chris was threatening a murder/suicide. on that night, it was kill or be killed. but the prosecution called it intentional murder and said if she were being abused she could have left. >> it is an extremely simplistic and archaic look at domestic violence. if we don't understand the psychological warfare that has happened to victims, that coercive control that strips a victim of their autonomy and agency over time, that idea that that door is there is a public perception. but victims are entrenched and

entrapped in an invisible door. >> the narrative was, nobody has this much documentation, you must have plotted this for years and years with this goal in mind. and that's simply just not true. it feels like for victims, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. >> what did that feel like to hear guilty? >> it felt like the air was sucked out of the room completely. it felt like -- i kind of stopped hearing sounds. there was nothing -- there was pure helplessness. >> reporter: this is a picture that nikki drew in prison. >> it was given to me by michelle, her sister. and it is framed, and it means everything to me. i can feel her sorrow, her despair, her sadness. i feel her so deeply. i've been where she is. >> reporter: kim dadu brown

knows full well what nikki's going through. in 1991, after years of abuse, she shot and killed her boyfriend as he tried to strangle her. she spent 17 years in prison for manslaughter. >> i have police reports, hospital records, every scar on my body is from him. no one cared that i was forced to defend myself. i felt like i had no other choice, i just wanted to live and to be prosecuted for that seemed surreal in the worst way. >> reporter: even before being released from prison, kim made it her mission to help other criminalized survivors. >> i don't want any other woman to end up where i was. i have to leave this place better than how i found it. >> reporter: those efforts culminated in the passage of the domestic violence survivors justice act in new york state, a ten-year-long labor of love for kim. the law known as dvsja gives courts the discretion to shorten sentences if survivors can prove

that abuse was a contributing factor to a crime. it was enacted just around the time of nikki's conviction. >> nikki meets all of the criteria. she was in a domestic violence relationship. she has never been in trouble with the law before. she did everything she was supposed to do. and that makes her qualified for this law. >> reporter: but to the shock of nikki and her supporters, the judge handling her case decided the dvsja did not apply to nikki, and she was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison in 2020. >> the sentence that was handed down was, to use the appellate court's words, based on antiquated myths of domestic violence. >> reporter: new york city attorney garred beanie helped appeal, and won, reducing the sentence to 7 1/2 years. the appellate court noting, the abuse was a significant contributing factor to the defendant's criminal behavior. >> one of the things we discussed after getting the appellate decision with her

repeatedly was her satisfaction that, as a result of her situation, she's been able to do something for other women. ♪ i have a voice ♪ >> reporter: nikki's two children preparing to spend another christmas without their mom. she's not set to be home until 2024, unless she's granted clemency. the new york governor's office wouldn't comment on nikki's case in particular, but said governor hochul is committed to improving justice, fairness, and safety in the criminal justice system. and we are reviewing applications in that context." >> there's this phrase that the punishment should fit the crime. what do you think about your punishment? >> even with the reduced sentence, even had i been acquitted -- i'll live with this for the rest of my life. up next, audra mcdonald. my conversation with the

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♪ audra mcdonald has won six tony awards. that's more than any other broadway performer in history. now she could be on track to break her own record in her latest production "ohio state murders." it's a haunting murder mystery about racism and trauma. earlier we sat down for a conversation. >> thanks so much for being here. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> your are literally broadway royalty. the first ever to win six tony

awards. and you said that this play, "ohio state murders," scared you to death. why was it that you were drawn to it anyway? >> i was drawn to it for a myriad of reasons. you know, i couldn't know the work of adrienne kennedy. she is this incredible playwright, this black female playwright who has been writing plays and pushing the boundaries of what a theatrical experience can be for 70 years. and when i was told that she had never had a play produced on broadway, then reading the play, getting too know the material of suzanne alexander and this incredible, horrific thing that happened at ohio state in the play,i just knew i had to be part of it, part of bringing adrienne kennedy to broadway. >> adrienne is 91, and this is the premiere in the james earl jones theater, incredible. >> it feels like kismet, it really does. >> we were talking off camera

that as a veteran black woman on broadway, you were often the first and the only. what strikes you when you see the diversity unfolding over time on stage? >> well, i'm thrilled that we're seeing more of it. it makes me realize how little there was before. and with plays like "ohio state murders," i think it's not only a murder mystery and an indictment of systemic racism within higher education and in the country -- in 1949, which is when the play takes place, the memory of it. it's a cautionary tale to say, let's not make a u-turn and head back in that same direction as we were before, let's see what systemic racism has wrought and do what we can to erase it and eradicate it. so that's why. >> is there enough representation on broadway? or do you feel like there's still a ways to go? >> i think there's still a ways to go. it's not just who's on stage. but it's also who's backstage. who's producing. whose stories are being told.

and audiences that are coming. there's still a lot of work that needs to be done with bringing in more diverse audiences. and every day the work is being done, but there's always more that can be done. >> we talked about how you were home so much during the pandemic. your husband, will swenson, and you are starring on stage in two different productions. he's in neil diamond's "a beautiful noise." what's it like to star across the street from each other? >> it's not what we planned but schedules work how they work out. it's been roughest on our 6-year-old daughter. she keeps saying she wants to tell our bosses we shouldn't have to come in to work. it's also thrilling that we're both on broadway right now. >> what made you choose to do this? you've also been acting as well in "the good fight." you studied classical voice at juilliard. >> i did. >> you were knowning to your soaring voice. what do you choose to do drama, when do you choose to do musicals?

>> i choose based on what scares me. it sounds so strange and morbid and nonscientific. for me, if it's something i know is going to make me learn something or evolve as an artist or get a message out there, whether musical or play, that's usually what i choose. for me i knew immediately that this piece scared me. season six just wrapped up in "the good fight." what was it like saying good-bye to your character? and show, for that matter? >> you know, it was -- it was wonderfully sort of cathartic to be a part of for the past six years, "the good fight." you know. and to play the part of liz reddick. to be able to -- a lot of times my character matched up with what a lot of audra mcdonald was thinking in terms happening in the world and in politics. for me, it was cathartic as liz reddick to say a lot of the things audra mcdonald was thinking. >> there is a thought that you

remember thinking, "i'm so glad i get to say this out loud." >> biz reddick had a wonderful monologue about voter suppression, how it affects black people, the fact that it's till happening today. i got to say those words. i got to lay out the argument. and specific examples of how it's still happening. and so when i finished that scene, i just turned to the writers and i said, "thank you, thank you for letting me." >> wow. they say, be careful when you meet your heroines because they sometimes disappoint, but you do not. >> thank you. >> so pleased to meet you. >> nice to meet you too, for sure. coming up, "barbie." from the dollhouse to the movie screen in a first-look trailer. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. can disrupt erd,pical,o but no

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♪ finally, "barbie." a rite of passage for generations of women. now a full-fledged movie star. it's "barbie: the movie." the opening scene in the trailer pays homage to stanley kubrick's "2001: a space odyssey."

narrated by oscar winner helen mirren. >> always and forever baby dolls. until -- >> margot bobby stars as rocky, ryan gosling as ken. some fans joking on social media, "go see "avatar: the way of water" for the "barbie" trailer." the movie opens next year in july. and that's "nightline." you can watch full episodes on hulu. make sure to join abc news on monday for live coverage of the january 6th committee's public meeting. coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. eastern. and we'll see you right back here same time monday. have a great weekend. have a great weekend. good night. santa claus is here. ♪ ♪ there's nothing better than being a kid on christmas morning. until you become a parent. ♪ ♪ and even though these moments don't last forever.