A Kentucky mother has been sentenced to 20 years over the deaths of her two children.
Nikki James, 45, was given the sentence without probation on Friday, June 28, after pleading guilty to manslaughter in connection to the fatal stabbings of her children, Skyler, 5, and Deon Williams, 13, in Lexington, Ky., in May 2022, per the Lexington Herald Leader, Fox 56 and WKYT.
The children were found critically injured in a “stabbing/cutting” incident at the family’s apartment, police said at the time of the incident, per the outlets. They were transported to hospital where they later died from their injuries.
James was arrested and charged with their murder shortly afterward.
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James received 10 years for each count of second-degree manslaughter in an amended plea deal on June 9, avoiding life in prison after being noted by doctors to have gone through psychosis at the time of the stabbings, her attorney, Bonnie Potter, said, per the Lexington Herald Leader and WKYT.
Joshua Crowe, a detective with the Lexington Police Department, testified in May 2022 that witnesses called police to the scene of the crime after James confessed to stabbing and killing her two children, Lexington Herald Leader and Fox 56 previously reported.
“Multiple witnesses were reporting that there was a woman covered in blood beating on doors, and telling people to kill their kids and kill themselves,” Crowe said, per Fox 56. “… [They] witnessed that James said that she had told them that she had killed her kids and began directing officers to her apartment.”
Crowe added that another witness was in a “previous personal relationship” with James and that “she told him that she had killed her kids.”
James also had stab wounds on herself at the scene of the incident.
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James’ attorney Potter told Lexington Herald Leader after accepting her plea deal in early June, “She is heartbroken over the loss of her children but glad that the criminal charges have been resolved.”
PEOPLE has reached out to the Lexington Police Department for further comment.
