YOUNGSTOWN Man sentenced in stabbing death

The 56-year-old man was first diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1964.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- William Cartwright doesn't recall much about what happened after he was suddenly awakened the night of Feb. 17, 2000.
He'll have five years to think about it.
Cartwright, 56, of West Chalmers Avenue, was sentenced to that many years in prison Friday by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
He pleaded guilty in January to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of 36-year-old Shaheedah Burkley. The charge was amended from murder in a plea agreement with prosecutors.
"I don't really know what all happened, but I'm sorry for it," Cartwright said.
What happened: Defense attorney Thomas Zena said Cartwright had been staying in Burkley's home and was asleep on the couch. She woke him up because she was expecting company and wanted him to move.
Cartwright, who has a long history of mental illness, woke up startled and afraid, grabbed a knife that he kept at his side and immediately jabbed it upward, stabbing Burkley, Zena said.
Police found her in her front doorway, covered in blood, stabbed three times in the chest and once in the back.
Zena said Cartwright called police himself to report the stabbing, waited outside for them to arrive and immediately confessed. He's been in the county jail since then.
According to police reports, Cartwright repeatedly told police "they were standing over me," which is why he pulled his knife.
"He thought they were coming to get him," Zena said, though it's unclear who Cartwright was afraid of.
Zena and Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Pochiro said psychiatric evaluations showed Cartwright is not insane, but he has been diagnosed several times with schizophrenia, beginning in 1964.
His mental condition was the primary reason for the plea agreement, the lawyers said.
Burkley's mother, Yvonne Burkley of Youngstown, said the killing has left her family in constant sorrow.
"I want to see him put somewhere that he won't hurt anybody ever again," she said.
bjackson@vindy.com