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Portsmouth — A Portsmouth woman who already spent two years behind bars awaiting trial in the stabbing death of her boyfriend will not serve any additional prison time.
At a hearing Friday in Circuit Court, Judge Joel Crowe sentenced 40-year-old Latisha Warren to eight years in prison, with six years suspended and credit for time served.
In 2017, Warren was charged with first-degree murder in Darnell Phillips’ death, but a mistrial was declared in 2019 when a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors at the time said they planned to retry the case. The judge granted bond for Warren, who’d been incarcerated for about two years.
In November, Warren pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter under an agreement with prosecutors.
In handing down his sentence Friday, Crowe said he reviewed statements submitted by the victim’s loved ones, and they were heartbreaking. But he agreed with Warren’s defense attorneys that he needed to consider progress she’d made since being released. Any active prison time would be purely punitive, Crowe said, and he didn’t think that was the criminal justice system’s role in this case.
Through tears, Warren apologized to Phillips’ family and said she prayed they’d one day find it in their hearts to forgive her.
Outside the courtroom after the hearing, one of Warren’s lawyers, Ali Sprinkle, said they were happy with the outcome, but also “sorry for the loss of his family.”
On Aug. 12, 2017, Warren called Phillips to pick her up in the 1500 block of Maple Ave. The two argued when Phillips and a friend got there, and Warren poured a beer through the sunroof of the friend’s car, according to prosecutors.
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Phillips got out to confront Warren, and she stabbed him once in the shoulder, severing an artery and puncturing a lung, prosecutors have said.
At her trial, Warren testified her boyfriend grabbed her throat and started choking her. She carried a knife for safety and stabbed him because she feared for her life, she said.
At Friday’s hearing, prosecutor Shea Coleman asked the judge to sentence Warren to the maximum of 10 years in prison. A man lost his life, and Warren ran from the scene, Coleman said, adding she had a criminal history that included assaults.
Kurt Gilchrist, Warren’s other defense attorney, argued state guidelines — which recommended a sentence between two years and 10 months and six years and nine months — already factored in the loss of life and Warren’s record. The guidelines, however, didn’t account for Warren’s remorsefulness, rehabilitation or the facts of the case, Gilchrist argued.
Domestic violence and alcoholism were prevalent in Warren’s life growing up, and the cycle continued with her, he said. She and Phillips had an abusive, co-dependent relationship, the attorney argued.
A sister and aunt testified Friday that since getting out on bond, Warren stopped drinking, held a steady job, regained her driver’s license, spent time with her children and participated in worship services.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com