Felicia Jones entered a guilty plea Thursday morning that will require prosecutors to drop the most serious charges against her in connection with the 2011 death of Jodie Lamont Ward.
A jury deadlocked in January in the second-degree murder case against Jones, 31, and she was scheduled to go to trial again March 25.
Jurors in January told Judge Ronna Beck that they deadlocked with eight jurors in favor of finding Jones guilty of second-degree murder. The jury also deadlocked on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter while armed, with nine voting guilty.
In exchange for a guilty plea to unarmed voluntary manslaughter, Jones’ attorney, Janet Mitchell, agreed to request a sentence of at least five years behind bars, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Leibman said he wouldn’t ask for more than six years.
At trial, Jones testified she had been smoking PCP with Ward at her home when Ward began acting erratically.
Ward dragged her upstairs into her daughter’s playroom, where the two of them fell onto the floor. When Ward reached for one of two knives, Jones grabbed a knife, stabbed Ward in the ear, and then ran downstairs to call police.
Jones is scheduled for sentencing May 17 at 10:30 a.m.
A copy of the plea agreement is below:
