News

October 28, 2009

Stabbing sentence: Up to 3 years

By Sheena Delazio sdelazio@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – A Kingston woman who police say stabbed her boyfriend in April was sentenced Tuesday to 18 to 36 months in state prison.

Lori Lee Barney, 35, of Zerby Avenue, was sentenced on charges of reckless endangerment by Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr.

“You’re lucky this isn’t a homicide,” Olszewski said. “Your actions are completely, 100 percent unacceptable.”

Barney was charged April 1 in the stabbing of her former boyfriend, Matthew Howell.

According to court records, police were called to River Street in Forty Fort for a report of a man, Howell, who was bleeding profusely from his abdomen. He told police that Barney stabbed him while he was lying on the couch.

When police arrived, Barney was still in the house brandishing the knife.

Once in custody, Barney told police that she stabbed Howell because he had been holding her down on the floor by her neck. Police said they saw no visible marks on Barney’s neck, and took her to the Kingston Police Department, where she was arraigned.

“It was wrong to do,” Barney said Tuesday.

Barney’s attorney, Edward Olexa, said Tuesday that the incident was alcohol-related, and that he agreed with the District Attorney’s Office that Barney needed a mental-health evaluation.

Olszewski said he believed Barney had an alcohol problem because she had been arrested twice previously for driving under the influence, in 2000 and 2007, and because the stabbing offense was alcohol-related.

The judge ordered Barney to wear a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor bracelet upon her release from prison to monitor if she drinks alcohol. The bracelet sends a message to a probation officer when the offender consumes alcohol. Doing so can result in a violation of terms of parole or probation.

Barney was also ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution to Howell for his injuries, to have no contact with him and to serve a one-year probation after her prison sentence.

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