D and the victim were involved in a volatile 'on and off' relationship that spanned several years. Two weeks prior to the stabbing, the victim moved out of d's apartment, but he continued to come over and visit. On June 22, 2002, D returned home to her apartment after work, where she was joined by the victim. They began to argue, and the confrontation escalated from angry words to objects being thrown. D stabbed the victim in the chest with a knife, and he died several months later from complications arising from the chest wound. There were no visible signs of any injuries to D. D was indicted on charges of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. At trial, P relied upon the eyewitness testimony of a neighbor who testified that when she heard fighting and 'things hitting the walls' next door, she stepped outside onto her doorstep to find out what was going on. She could see and hear inside D's apartment. She observed D and the victim arguing in the kitchen, and then D 'asked [the victim] to leave her house, and as he was walking out the door, he turned around, and she stabbed him.' The neighbor testified that the victim had not made any threatening gestures or statements to D prior to being stabbed. The victim staggered away from D's apartment and lay down on the sidewalk. The neighbor attempted to assist the victim, but D came over, spat on him, repeatedly kicked him in the rib cage, and said, 'Let the mother-f***er die!' The neighbor's daughter also witnessed d's conduct while the victim was lying on the sidewalk and testified consistently with her mother's account. D claimed self-defense and defense of her habitation. She presented witnesses who testified to prior incidents in which the victim was aggressive toward her or threatened her. D testified concerning prior incidents and that on the night of the stabbing, the victim had forced his way into her apartment without her permission and attacked her after accusing her of having another man inside. P claimed the victim chased her into her kitchen, cornered her next to the sink, and started to choke her, at which point she grabbed a steak knife from the sink and stabbed him one time. D denied attacking the victim on the sidewalk following the stabbing. D admitted that she initially lied to the police about what had occurred, telling the responding officers that three 'dope boys' had kicked in the front door and chased the victim around the apartment before stabbing him, despite the fact that there was no evidence of a forced entry. D admitted that she hid the knife after the stabbing so that the police would not locate it, and that in a prior incident she had struck the victim in the head with a telephone. P introduced a prior inconsistent statement in which D confided to a relative that on the night in question, the victim had knocked at her front door and had come inside her apartment only after she gave him permission to do so. No blood or any other sign of an altercation had been found in the kitchen area where D claimed that the stabbing had occurred. Blood had been found on and around the front door, consistent with the neighbor's version of events. D was found guilty by the jury on both indictments. D moved for a new trial, which the trial court denied. D appealed.

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