A woman charged with murdering her boyfriend in west Edmonton a little more than two years ago pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in an Edmonton courtroom on Monday.
Laurie Jean Cunningham, who was 60 at the time, was arrested on Nov. 7, 2017 at a home near 87 Avenue and 178 Street.
Officers were called to a disturbance around 9:30 p.m. and arrived to find a man had been stabbed. Mark Huemer, 59, was pronounced dead in hospital.
On Monday, court heard that Cunningham, a family lawyer, had been in a relationship with Huemer for a year.
Court also heard that on the night Huemer died, both were intoxicated by alcohol, and Cunningham had also taken prescription sleeping pills.
Cunningham took the stand in her own defence and said Huemer proposed to her that night, saying: “I was over the moon.”
Cunningham testified that Huemer wanted to have sex after proposing, but she claimed she said no and wanted to cuddle instead.
“He got so angry. Just bang — from it’s all good to it’s horrible,” she said on the stand on Monday, adding that Huemer told her: “F—k off, get out of my life. Get out of my house — it’s over.”
Cunningham said things then got physical and he pushed her.
“He came barrelling down the hall toward me, and he shoved me really hard into the wall and I fell. He started kicking me in the shoulders and back, over and over,” Cunningham told court.
Cunningham said she eventually got up and went to the kitchen.
“I could see the look on his face and I thought, ‘I’m in trouble,'” she said.
She said she tried to get around him to the back door.
“I was hitting him, scratching him, whatever I could do. And then he punched me in the face,” Cunningham said, adding that she fell down again. “I was on the floor. That was when I started to feel really, really afraid.”
Cunningham said Huemer put his foot on her chest and wouldn’t let her get up.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life before,” she said. “I wanted to go home.”
Cunningham said Huemer walked away to call someone, adding that she didn’t know who. She told court she saw an opportunity to defend herself.
“Right in front of me (was) a knife block. I grabbed a knife and said to Mark: ‘I want to go home,'” she said.
She claimed she didn’t intend to hurt Huemer.
“I only wanted to keep him away from me. I wanted to go home,” she said.
Police said they found Cunningham passed out on the floor, lying on top of the chef’s knife used to stab Huemer.
“I don’t remember stabbing him,” she testified.”I’m sorry, I do not remember.
“I killed him and I loved him.”
Cunningham was initially charged with second-degree murder and possession of a dangerous weapon but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Monday at the Edmonton Law Courts.
READ MORE: Woman charged with murder in Edmonton’s 40th homicide of 2017
A victim impact statement from Huemer’s son was also read in court on Monday. Photos of Cunningham were also introduced as evidence, showing bruises on her face, arm and shoulder, as well as stitches on her hand.
The Crown argued Cunningham was not a reliable witness and played a 911 call in which Huemer asked for an ambulance because Cunningham was so intoxicated.
The call ended abruptly with Huemer saying, “owe owe owe she stabbed me. What the f—k?!?”
The Crown wants Cunningham to serve six years behind bars, while the defence is pushing for three years. Sentencing is set for Wednesday afternoon.
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