Galpal charged in fatal stab claims self-defense

Galpal charged in fatal stab claims self-defense
By Natalie Sherman  |   Tuesday, March 1, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

Photo by Donald Rockhead

A 23-year-old man was stabbed to death by accident when he ran into a knife his girlfriend had grabbed in self-defense, she is contending.

Police found Lancelot Reid stabbed to death shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, after rushing to an apartment in the Franklin Field Housing Development after a 911 call.

Girlfriend Cherry Clinton, 29, allegedly admitted to the stabbing at the scene, but said she grabbed the knife in self-defense because Reid had assaulted her earlier in the day, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.

But prosecutors said there’s little chance the blade plunged accidentally into Reid’s chest. A knife could not make it through several layers of clothing and into a heart without force being used, Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum said at Clinton’s arraignment yesterday — her 29th birthday — in Dorchester District Court.

A not guilty plea to the murder charge was entered on Clinton’s behalf.

Neighbors told the Herald last week that they regularly heard the couple fighting.

At least five people have died from domestic violence so far this year, Toni Troop, a spokeswoman for the victim’s advocacy program Jane Doe Inc., told the Herald last week.

Of those, two of the alleged perpetrators are women who said they were acting in self-defense, Troop said.

Clinton’s lawyer, John Cunha, did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

Judge Kenneth Desmond ordered Clinton held without bail. She is due back in court March 31.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1320125