EVERETT — A 19-year-old woman is headed to prison after being sentenced to nearly two years behind bars for slicing her boyfriend’s trachea with a knife he gave her for Christmas.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent on Thursday agreed that Tiana Star-Cox deserved the maximum sentence for the Dec. 26, 2013, attack.
Star-Cox tried to convince a jury last month that she had been defending herself against an abusive boyfriend during an argument over booze outside an Everett convenience store. She claimed to be a battered woman.
The man’s throat was cut first and then he was stabbed in the chest.
Jurors weren’t convinced the attack was self-defense but couldn’t reach an agreement on the more serious first-degree assault charge that would have sent the woman to prison for up to a decade.
Star-Cox was convicted of second-degree assault while armed with a deadly weapon. Okrent was required to sentence the defendant to a year in prison for the knife. He agreed with Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow that she also deserved nine months in prison for the assault.
Star-Cox didn’t have any prior criminal convictions. She served about seven months in jail before bailing out in July. She is expected to get credit for that time.
The victim has since moved out of state.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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