Stephanie Lawson was sentenced Friday to 33 months in prison for the stabbing death of her friend, Karen Jordan.
But before she begins her sentence she’ll spend three weeks on high-intensity supervision while she finishes an externship program. Attorneys in the case declined to say what type of program she is participating in, but did say that she is expecting to work 40-hour work weeks to complete her 200 hour program.
Lawson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the case.
The proffer of facts stated that Lawson was playing cards and drinking alcohol with friends on August 27, 2011 when Jordan arrived and the two began arguing over a debt.
Both the prosecution and defense agreed that Jordan was the aggressor and was threatening Lawson before Lawson took out a knife and stabbed Jordan in the neck once. Jordan lost consciousness and was pronounced dead later that night at the hospital.
“The madness of intoxication clouded everyone’s judgement,” said O’Connell, who told the court that money that started the argument was for cocaine that had been purchased the day before.
Prosecutors recommended that she be sentenced to four years in prison, but Judge Rhonda Winston ruled that a shorter sentence was fair.
“This happened in your house and you were afraid,” Winston explained, “But Karen Jordan’s life had value. She didn’t deserve to die.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward O’Connell told the court that he was the only one present Friday to speak on Jordan’s behalf.
“She had loved ones, problems, and aspirations just like all of us,” said O’Connell, “Stephanie Lawson is a good person, but in 2011, she stabbed and killed another person, and she has to account for that.”
Winston ordered Lawson to be in home confinement when she is not at her externship, to have an ankle monitor while she is released, and to turn herself in on June 20 to begin serving her sentence.
