Mother pleads guilty to killing her son
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Suffolk News-Herald
A Columbus Avenue woman pleaded guilty in Suffolk Circuit Court Wednesday to the May 17 stabbing death of her son.
Carolyn Bernette Williams, 48, entered into a plea agreement, pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 32-year-old Marvis D. Williams, said Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Will Jamerson. She had initially been charged with second-degree murder.
Williams reportedly stabbed her son after he jumped on her at their Columbus Avenue home while he was drunk, authorities said. She tried to push him away, and unable to do that, she stabbed him.
Jamerson told the court that Marvis Williams’s blood alcohol content was .21 at the time of his death. He lived at his mother’s home.
Witnesses told investigators that the pair became involved in a &uot;verbal altercation&uot; over money before his death.
According to testimony, Carolyn Williams told the investigators she reached out and picked up the nearest item, a kitchen utility knife, and stabbed her son in the neck.
No one wanted to call for medical rescue because Marvis Williams was AWOL from the military, according to court testimony.
By the time police arrived, Williams had collapsed on the ground. He later died at Obici Hospital.
According to investigators, police have been dispatched to the Columbus Avenue residence where neighbors had heard verbal fights erupt in the past.
Williams will be sentenced at a later date.