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Woman pleads guilty in stabbing
By Joe Gorman
youngstown
A woman who police say stabbed her boyfriend to death in their Boardman home in June pleaded guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Monday.
Tequila Haskins was originally charged with murder in the June 4 death of her boyfriend, 28-year-old Brian Tubbs, in their Moyer Avenue home. She pleaded to the reduced charge before Judge James C. Evans.
Haskins, who is free on bond, will be sentenced Feb. 14.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Paris told Judge Evans one of the reasons prosecutors decided to offer the plea was because “the defendant’s conduct could be viewed as a provocation.”
She would not expound on what the provocations may have been, but previous reports said that Haskins walked in on Tubbs in bed with another woman and her attorney had said previously that Haskins had been abused by Tubbs for a long period of time.
Paris said both the mother and aunt of Tubbs were in agreement with the plea.
Haskins discovered Tubbs, 28, and their neighbor together naked in bed, Boardman police said.
That’s when Haskins proceeded to get a large kitchen knife and stabbed Tubbs in the arm, chest and throat, police said. Haskins also struck the neighbor and threw her down the stairs, police said.
Paramedics tried reviving Tubbs on the scene before he was transported to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he later died.
Police believe Tubbs bled out from his chest cavity, and that he’d lost too much blood by the time he arrived at the hospital.
Paris said prosecutors have agreed to make no recommendation at her sentencing.
The maximum sentence for the charge is 11 years.
During her hearing, Haskins was crying as Judge Evans asked her if she understood the right she was giving up by pleading guilty, a standard practice when a defendant is pleading guilty to a criminal charge.