WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced the guilty plea of a woman who was charged with First Degree Manslaughter after she fatally stabbed her boyfriend.

“This is a domestic incident that needlessly escalated into extreme violence,” said Tierney. “The defendant in this case took full responsibility for her actions and now faces extensive prison time as a result of her actions.”

According to court filings and statements by the defendant, on June 10, 2021, Charlene Blackshear, 51, stabbed her on and off again boyfriend in the upper torso with a kitchen style knife, causing his death in Brentwood.  The murder weapon was recovered from the kitchen sink of the apartment where the killing occurred, however, it was washed by the defendant after she committed the homicide. 

There were eyewitnesses in the apartment when the stabbing took place and Blackshear was apprehended shortly after the homicide when she called an individual asking for a ride.  Additionally, the defendant admitted to investigators in a videotaped interview that she had stabbed the decedent.  However, she further indicated that she was merely defending herself.

Blackshear pled guilty Wednesday to First Degree Manslaughter and she is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1, 2022. She was represented by Christopher Gioe.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Eric S. Aboulafia of the Homicide Bureau.

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Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments.

Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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