A Kapa‘a woman pleaded guilty to assault and terroristic threatening charges last week after stabbing her husband July 28. Angela Charlebois, 43, of Kapa‘a, pleaded guilty to the reduced charges of second-degree assault and terroristic threatening in Fifth Circuit Court,
A Kapa‘a woman pleaded guilty to assault and terroristic threatening charges last week after stabbing her husband July 28.
Angela Charlebois, 43, of Kapa‘a, pleaded guilty to the reduced charges of second-degree assault and terroristic threatening in Fifth Circuit Court, after a plea deal with prosecutors reduced charges from second-degree attempted murder.
First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Craig De Costa said that the assault charge more accurately depicted the details of the case.
But Charlebois’ attorney, Mark Zenger, said Monday that it was Charlebois, in fact, who feared for her life, and that the stabbing was an accident.
“She tried to scare him because she is actually afraid of him,” said Zenger in a phone interview. “She stabbed the pillow, and his arm was underneath.”
According to the facts of the case detailed in Circuit Court last week, Charlebois was at the Shack Bar and Restaurant in Kapa‘a when she told an employee “she was going home to kill her husband,” De Costa read.
According to Zenger, she had just returned from the Mainland, and went to The Shack to find her husband. But instead, Charlebois had been told that her husband had put a contract out on her life.
“The man told her that her husband said, ‘If you kill my wife, I’ll give you our home,’” Zenger said.
“She accused him of having a contract out on her,” De Costa concurred.
While De Costa would not say whether the threat against Charlebois was serious, he did say that there was no current investigation into the alleged threat.
According to Zenger, Charlebois later went to the couple’s home, woke her husband out of bed, and the two began arguing over the threat.
She first stabbed the bed a few times, and when she stabbed the pillow, she accidentally slashed her husband’s arm, Zenger said. The lawyer said she was trying to get her husband to leave the home.
The cut required stitches but was not life-threatening, De Costa said Monday.
The two plan on seeking a divorce, Zenger said.
The plea deal also includes a prosecutor’s recommendation of one year in jail, with five years probation. Second-degree assault and first-degree terroristic threatening, both class-C felonies, each carry a maximum five-year sentence.
Charlebois will be sentenced Oct. 14.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
