Dominique Bassil was indicted today on one count of second-degree murder while armed in the stabbing death of Vance Harris on Aug. 13.
Bassil is suspected of killing Harris, her boyfriend, in their Southeast D.C. apartment. Her attorney, Elizabeth Mullins, argued at a preliminary hearing that the fatal stabbing could have been in self-defense. Bassil told police that that night in their apartment Harris attacked her, slapping her until she ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife.
“The only reason I got away is because I stabbed him,” Mullins read at a preliminary hearing from a transcript of Bassil’s interview with police.
The indictment on second-degree murder while armed is the second time charges have been increased or reduced in the case. Bassil was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, but at the preliminary hearing Judge Gerald Fisher said he could only find evidence to support a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Bassil was scheduled to be arraigned on the charge Thursday morning; court records have not yet been updated with her plea.
She is expected back in court on Jan. 26 and remains released from custody.
