NEW CASTLE Stabbing suspect bound to court

The woman's lawyer said the stabbing was self-defense.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- David Cox and Alesia Ward lived in the same house but didn't always get along, police said.
Prosecutors say she intentionally stabbed and killed him in their Front Street home the evening of Feb. 22. Her attorney said it was an accident, a dispute over spilled food gone terribly wrong.
Police testified that the two often feuded.
Ward's father, Paul, calls it a family tragedy.
"The older ones in the family understand this was an unfortunate tragedy. It's a situation that happened. It's like me and my sister getting into a fight," he said.
Paul Ward of New Castle said his family had close ties to David Cox, 50.
"There wasn't a family project that Dave wasn't a part of. I'm being torn apart by this," Paul Ward said as he watched his wife, sister and other daughter hug and kiss Alesia as she was being led away by New Castle police.
District Justice Melissa Amodie bound Ward over to court on a charge of criminal homicide after a two-hour preliminary hearing Friday.
Alesia Ward, 35, was sent back to jail without bond to await trial.
New Castle Police Officer Terry Dolquist testified that Ward confessed when he found her in the women's bathroom of the Tin Man Lounge. The bar is near the Front Street home she shared with Cox and his brother, John, who is the father of Ward's three children.
Police responded to the home after neighbors called for help, at Ward's request.
Dolquist said he chased David Cox's niece into the bar after she told him that Ward had killed her uncle and she was going after her.
"When I got to the bar, she [the niece] was at the door of the women's bathroom. She had a chair in the air and she was screaming and yelling," he said.
Dolquist said he pulled the niece away from the door and found Ward inside, who said, "I did it. I did it. Take me away."
Found dead: Police said they found Cox dead, lying on his back in the area between the kitchen and living room at the home with a pool of blood behind his head. He was clutching an open pocket knife in his right hand, they said.
An autopsy revealed that he had been stabbed once in the chest, just below the neck.
Ward told police she had come home Feb. 22 with a bag of potato chips and a jar of pigs' feet and Cox started "picking" at her.
The two got into a fight and he caused her to drop the jar on the floor, where it smashed into pieces.
Detective Sgt. Cynthia Eve said Ward told her that Cox made a threatening gesture, which she called his "Tarzan" gesture, as she went into the kitchen for a towel to clean up the pigs' feet. While she was there, she also grabbed a steak knife, police said.
Was stabbed: Another fight erupted, and Ward stabbed Cox once in the chest, police said. Her attorney, David Acker, said she had been getting up from the floor and had her back to Cox when he grabbed her. Ward reached back and caught him in the chest with the knife, Acker said.
Acker tried to show that the stabbing was self-defense. He tried to introduce Cox's toxicology report, which stated he had cocaine in his bloodstream and he had consumed enough alcohol to be considered two times over the legal driving limit.
He also questioned Eve about Ward's police statement in which she told them David Cox was being physically abusive toward her and others in the past and that she feared him.
Not admitted: However, Amodie would not permit the statements or toxicology report into evidence, saying the preliminary hearing is only to determine if there was enough evidence to hold Ward.
Acker later argued that the evidence presented by Assistant District Attorney Robert Barletta proved there was a homicide, but that it was not criminal.
"Her actions in this case look like they are justified. There was no real intent to kill him on her part. She was reacting. He had a knife and she had a knife. She stood up to walk away," Acker said after the hearing.
Bound for trial: Amodie disagreed and decided to bind Ward over for trial.
Ward's family members say they were hoping the case would end at Friday's hearing.
"The rest of the family has been very supportive. We buried Dave, and now we've got to get Alesia out," her father said.