A woman charged in the stabbing death of 60-year-old George Deramus pleaded guilty on Monday morning to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. Tavowia Hinton, who was 49 at the time of the Dec. 2, 2018, incident, had been facing a charge of second-degree murder.
She was given a six-year prison sentence, but it was suspended.
Ms. Hinton was directed not to have any contact with the victim's family.
Ms. Hinton had told police she stabbed Mr. Deramus after being attacked by him at his home in the 3900 block of Merrywood Lane. Officers arrived and found him in a bedroom unresponsive with several stab wounds. Hamilton County EMS responded and pronounced him deceased.
An investigator found the victim lying on his back. He had stab wounds to the front of his right shoulder, to his right side and to the back of his neck.
Ms. Hinton told police they had gotten into an argument in her bedroom. She said she was grabbed by her husband and thrown to the wall. She said she landed on the bed. She said he then got on top of her and began to choke her with two hands.
She said she was able to roll away from him and got off the bed on the side closest to the bedroom door. She said her husband got off the bed on the other side.
Ms. Hinton said she got a knife from a dresser drawer in her bedroom, then put it in the waist band of her pants. She said she walked around the bed toward Mr. Deramus and he walked around the opposite side of the bed. She said when they met at the foot of the bed she pulled out the knife.
She said she stabbed him once in the shoulder and they both fell to the floor. She said she had no idea how he had sustained the other two wounds.
Police said there was no sign of an injury to Ms. Hinton. She was initially charged with criminal homicide.
Prosecutor Andrew Coyle said some of Ms. Hinton's story did not add up, including how the victim was stabbed multiple times and while knives were strewn around in the kitchen. However, he said this was felt to be the best resolution of the case. He noted that Mr. Doremus had a prior conviction for domestic assault.
A victim-witness coordinator read statements from two family members of the victim.
His mother called him a peaceful person who never liked to argue and get in a conflict. She said he was the jokester of the family and regularly kept his grandkids on weekends. She said his death was "a devastating loss."
A prior wife of the victim and mother of his two children said, "We are all devastated that he was brutally murdered. He was a good man who didn't deserve this."
Ms. Hinton had been out on bond.