EVERETT — A man who fatally stabbed his wife early last year in their Mill Creek apartment pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder.
Matt Alton, 53, entered the plea during a hearing in Snohomish County Superior Court. He has been locked up since February 2017, charged with the domestic violence killing of his wife, Norensa Pillias, 66.
Alton faces between 12 and 20 years in prison at sentencing, now scheduled April 19. Under terms of the plea agreement, a sentence of roughly 16 years will be recommended, deputy prosecutor Julie Mohr said.
The plea came during what had been scheduled as a pre-trial hearing. Lawyers were preparing to take the case before a jury in May.
Pillias had left the home two years before her death, telling others it was necessary for her safety. She eventually returned, and “there is evidence of past domestic violence that finally led to this brutal and unprovoked stabbing,” court papers say.
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