Woman charged with killing boyfriend with documented history of abuse

A woman was charged with stabbing her boyfriend to death, but her attorney stated that she was defending herself from a man with a document history of violence against women.

Tahesia Jackson of the 1900 block of South Homan Avenue was charged late Wednesday with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Leon Brown, 30. [1st degree murder carries a sentence of 20 to 60 years without parole.] She was ordered held in lieu of $600,000 bail. Early Tuesday morning, the couple began quarreling over bus fare at Jackson's apartment and she grabbed a steak knife, said Assistant State's Atty. Jose Villarreal.

Jackson began stabbing Brown while he was lying on a mattress—gouging her own right thigh in the process—then asked a daughter to help her clean up the blood, according to Villarreal and court records.She then called 911 and admitted to stabbing Brown, Villarreal said. Brown was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after 6 a.m.Tim Grace, Jackson's attorney, said she was defending herself after Brown came to her apartment late at night and chased her into the kitchen. She grabbed a knife and warned Brown to get away from her, he said. When he didn't, she stabbed him, and he went to lie down on a bed, Grace said.

Brown pled guilty to threatening to kill a woman he knew last year on June 11 after breaking down her door. An emergency order of protection was granted, which Brown served 15 days in the Cook County Jail for violating in July by standing outside her hallway. He was arrested for stalking her in September, but charges in that case were dropped.