Woman who said she accidentally shot, killed boyfriend takes plea deal
Janice Louise Hawkins-Green (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office)
A Minneapolis woman has entered a guilty plea to a charge stemming from the death of her boyfriend as part of a deal.
Janice Louise Hawkins-Green, 39, will be sentenced later this year for one count of second-degree manslaughter for shooting and killing her boyfriend by accident.
That charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, however, due to the plea made on Monday, she is expected to receive a stayed prison sentence and just get probation and electronic home monitoring or work release. Her sentencing is now set for Aug. 7.
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The shooting happened in late August last year during an argument between Janice Louise Hawkins-Green and her boyfriend, 36-year-old Mark Holmes O’Dell.
The victim’s mother then called 911 and reported the shooting, saying, “It was accidental.”
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The criminal complaint states that Hawkins-Green told O’Dell to get his things and leave the house. She then gathered several of his items out of her vehicle, including the gun and a sweatshirt.
Hawkins-Green told investigators she was holding the gun with the barrel pointed away from her so she “wouldn’t shoot [herself],” according to court documents.
She then said she “was shoving the gun and the sweatshirt” at O’Dell when the gun went off. O’Dell died at the hospital later that afternoon.
Court documents show the gun, a Springfield XD Elite 9 mm handgun, has a backstrap safety and a trigger safety, meaning the gun must be held tight to depress the backstrap safety and the trigger safety must also be depressed for the gun to fire.
Hawkins-Green confirmed in a later interview with police that she was holding the gun by the grip with her finger on the trigger when she was shoving the gun at the victim, court documents say.