Boulder, CO woman who stabbed husband in heart pleads to negligent homicide - gets 90 days JAIL with work release

(Original Post 2-13-10)

A 32 year old Boulder, CO woman who stabbed her husband pled guilty to criminal negligent homicide after stabbing her husband, John Houseman, to death with a kitchen knife. Traci Housman was originally charged with 2nd degree murder, which carried a sentence of 10-32 years in prison. Criminally negligent homicide carries a 1-3 year prison sentence. In 2007, the couple met on Myspace after a 20 year off and on relationship. They were married in June 2008.

Boulder County District Court Judge Maria Berkenkotter has discretion in sentencing as the guilty plea was "blind." Matthew Connell, Traci's public defender, plans to ask for a probation sentence for his client because of the victim's history of domestic violence. Police reports and one of John's ex-wives tell of his violent tendencies. He was ticked by police in 2001 after death threats and "basking her face in."

According to police, Housman stabbed her husband once in the chest with a kitchen knife during an altercation in their 2994 23rd St. home early on Aug. 2. Housman told investigators that they had been drinking on the Pearl Street Mall earlier in the night and ended up at a nearby sushi restaurant, where John Housman started telling people, "I'm gay," according to a police report.

Traci Housman told detectives that her husband had told her years ago that he was bisexual, and she had no problem with it. But, according to police, she told him that night "that it was disrespectful for him to announce this to everyone since they were married."

They got into an argument, and Traci Housman decided to walk home, the report said. When she arrived, her husband was waiting, "and he was angry," according to the report.

Traci Housman told police that her husband pushed her into a wall, grabbed her hair and hit her head several times. She told detectives that he pushed her head into a glass framed picture, causing it to break, and she eventually got away to grab a knife from the kitchen, according to police.

"Traci said she poked out at John with one of the knives she had grabbed, and he suddenly stopped his attack," the report said.

Housman said she ran to the backyard, and when she went back into the house, she found John Housman sitting up against a wall with a large wound where she had "poked him," the report said. She immediately began CPR, according to police, and called 911 twice.

Stewart Lundstrom, Traci's brother, said "We are saddened that we can't be there for her with such an important choice to make. Please note that although we are stuck here, our hearts are with Traci, whatever her decision may be." Lundstrom and Traci's mother attended all of her hearings except the plea agreement, which they missed due to a snowstorm. Traci will be sentenced on April 23, and is being held in the Boulder County Jail on $250,000 bail.

(Update 4-27-10) Last Friday, Housman was sentenced by Boulder County District Court Judge Maria Berkenkotter to 7 years probation, 400 hours of community service and 90 days in the Boulder County jail's work release program. "It's completely undisputed that Mrs. Housman stabbed Mr. Housman...The dents in the wall that were made by John slamming Mrs. Housman's head into the wall are powerful evidence of what happened that evening...I am persuaded that Mrs. Housman is genuinely and profoundly remorseful for her actions."

Hope Housman, the victim's daughter, had a letter about the loss of her father read by Boulder County Deputy District Attorney David Cheval. "I was daddy's girl. I never thought about how life would be without daddy. Words can't explain how I feel. There's a hole in my heart."

None of John Housman's family members or friends were in the courtroom Friday, while numerous friends and family members showed up to support Traci Housman. Deputy District Attorney Amy Okubo said John Housman's supporters stayed away because they didn't want to hear bad things about the man they loved.

Matthew Connell, defense attorney for Housman, said he didn't want to insult John Housman during the hearing, "but I don't know how to talk about this case and ignore the fact that John Housman was very severely beating up Traci Housman that night."

Traci herself said in mitigation, "I know how excited they [John and Hope]were for all those things, and now [Hope will] have to feel his absence at all of those milestones...But John was different that night. I saw it in his eyes...I really loved John, and I still do. Know that I never wanted this to happen."

The 90 day jail sentence will be suspended once Traci finds employment, something a defense attorney said will be at a local gas station. As for the community service, her father John Lundstrom said "The community service -- that's not punishment to her. That's what she loves to do."

El Paso, TX woman gets light sentence for killing husband with knife

An El Paso, TX woman will only be in jail for a little under 2 months after her conviction of criminally negligent homicide in the stabbing death of her husband. Judge Bonnie Rangel sentenced the woman to 2 years after jurors acquitted her of murder and manslaughter on Friday. The killer, 25 year old Leslie Alvarado, was convicted of stabbing to death 32 year old Leopoldo Mosqueda, who bled to death after being attacked on November 4, 2007.

Both the prosecution and defense attorney accepted that Alvarado stabbed her husband in the arm intentionally. However, there were differences in their arguments about why the killing happened. The trial, presided over by 171st District Court Judge Bonnie Rangel, began Monday with closing arguments on Thursday.

During his closing argument Thursday, [defense attorney Ruben]Hernandez said that Alvarado stabbed her husband in self-defense.He argued that Leopoldo Mosqueda had tried to rape her the night he died. If Alvarado had wanted to kill Mosqueda, she would have stabbed him in a vital organ and not in the arm, he said.

But Assistant District Attorney Scott Ferguson argued that Alvarado purposely selected a large knife for the attack. Ferguson took the knife that killed Mosqueda and stabbed the air in front of the jury during his closing argument. "When you stab someone like this in the arm, two or three times, you know at the very least that she's intending to cause death or serious bodily injury," he said.

Ferguson also argued that a taped jail conversation of Alvarado showed that she had a motive for killing her husband because she had a relationship with a woman.

On Wednesday, April 21, prosecutors brought up an August 2003 incident in which Alvarado allegedly hit her husband with a bat, but the victim dropped charges. Dr. Timothy Proctor reviewed the records of both the victim and defendant, with the records showing that Alverado had been abused regularly, and Mosqueda was diagnosed as bipolar. "It was a very chaotic relationship, and what I saw was mutual aggression," Proctor said.

After Judge Rangel's sentencing, the victim's sister, Maria Teresa Mosqueda, said that despite the strained relationship with her brother, "I can never forgive you. Never." Hernandez told reporters "I think we're still happy with the result because it wasn't a murder. She didn't plan it, and she didn't want that result."

Judge Rangel sentenced Alvarado to 2 years for aggravated assault for attacking Vickie Dobson at a mall, causing head injuries.The aggravated assault sentence will be served concurrently with the homicide charges.

Wife charged with reckless homicide after husband dies during bondage session - convicted of negligent homicide, sentenced to 18 months

(Original Post 4-21-08)

A woman is being charged with reckless homicide, punishable by up to 12 years in prison, after a BDSM session gone wrong. James Bargy, 29, was found with his hands and feet tied behind his back, a ball in his mouth , which was tied with duct tape, after sexual games with his wife Rebecca, 25. Police say he was like that for almost 20 hours, according to his wife's confession.

Authorities believe she tied up her husband, James Bargy, 29, for sexual pleasure and then left him inside their trailer on Jacobs Lane for about 20 hours, according to a warrant.Sheriff’s deputies found the body about 4 p.m. Saturday. Rebecca Bargy allegedly inserted a ball in her husband’s mouth, duct taped it shut, wrapped a bandage around his head, tied his arms and legs behind his back and then left him in the trailer, according to the warrant.

“When we found him, his head was completely wrapped in an ace bandage with only his nostrils showing,” he said. “Apparently, this was not the first time it had happened.”

While detectives have not called it intentional, James Bargy's family believes that troubles in their marriage led to Becky's killing of her husband.

They say the couple's marriage was on the rocks, and that James had plans to return to his home state of New York.

His sister believes what happened to his brother on Saturday was no accident.

"What kind of person does that, leaves someone for so long without checking on them? Who could do that?" said Lisa Brady, the victim's sister.

Becky's mother said that it was simply a case of bondage gone wrong.

I hope they let her go. She doesn't deserve this, I mean he doesn't either, but something went wrong and god knows its not her fault," said Mona Phillips, Rebecca Bargy's mother.

Rebecca's mother, says the couple often engaged in bondage related sexual activities at James' request.

"They do this all the time and something went wrong. I don't know what went wrong," Phillips explained.

Rebecca Bargy is still in Maury County Jail as of Sunday.

(Update 7-18-09) Last Monday, July 13, Rebecca Bargy was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison for negligent homicide. On May 20, after 3 1/2 hours of deliberation, jurors acquitted Bargy of much more serious 2nd degree murder charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison in Tennessee. During the trial, jurors and the victim's family members heard evidence that Bargy had left her husband bound and gagged for 20 hours because she had left to see a "boyfriend," Matthew Gilmore, a man she met while playing World Of Warcraft (WoW).

During the trial, Becky testified that bondage was a part of her 7 year marriage to the victim, and that on April 18, the day before James' death, she had tied her husband up, had sex with her "boyfriend," and the husband got out of his bounds.

Before [Maury County Circuit Court Judge Stella] Hargrove made her ruling, Mona Phillips, Rebecca Bargy’s mother, testified that putting her daughter in jail would do no good and that Rebecca Bargy is upset over her husband’s death. Assistant District Attorney Larry Nickell took exception to the mother’s statements. He pointed out that Rebecca Bargy lived with Gilmore for about a month after James Bargy was found dead.

“This is the last person in the world you think she’d move in with,” he said.During closing arguments, Defense Attorney Samuel Patterson maintained James Bargy’s death was an accident.“This type of case falls under unusual circumstances,” he said. “If she could turn back time, she would.”

In an interview after the verdict, Lisa Bargy, the victim's sister, said this:

She left my brother to die while she was in a hotel room with another man. My brother fighting for every last breath while she was breathing heavy in a hotel...I don't think she meant to kill him, but she definitely should have had to pay for what she did.

Judge Hargrove echoed that sentiment when she said to the perp, “In this court’s mind, the jury did not consider this an accident. It’s almost like Miss Bargy is presenting herself as a victim. I have problems with that. I don’t see her as helpless. Someone has to be held accountable. “ feel there needs to be a consequence when there’s a death that could have been avoided.”

Bargy must serve her time at the Maury County Jail.

Wife pleads guilty to breathplay death of husband

A woman plead guilty to criminal negligence involving death by hanging her husband during kinky sex gone wrong. In an ironic twist, the victim strangled a woman to death in another kinky sexual sesion over 20 years ago, and served 8 years.

Crystal Boarder, 31, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death. Her husband, Tony Boarder, 46, died of asphyxiation during the hanging in September.

Tony and Crystal Boarder, his partner of about 10 years, engaged in "kinky sex games" of bondage and asphyxiation, the court heard.

They performed acts of suffocation with plastic bags and sheets, drownings in the bathtub and hangings in their barn, assistant Crown attorney Pamela Borghesan told the court.

On Sept. 8, the couple videotaped themselves taking turns hanging each other in the barn next to their house outside Rockwood, Borghesan said, describing the footage.

First, Crystal Boarder was hanged by her husband and let down. Then, Tony Boarder placed the rope around his own neck and she hanged him. He told her to lower him and then quickly lost consciousness. Crystal Boarder slowly brought him to the ground over a period of about 15 minutes. For the next 40 minutes, she checked his pulse and smoked cigarettes.

Later that morning, Crystal Boarder called the police and said she had accidentally killed her husband during a sex game, Borghesan said before Justice David Carr.

Crystal Boarder will be sentenced on July 16. Criminal negligance causing death carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.