Woman faces life in prison after stabbing boyfriend in break-up death
A young woman has been found guilty of second-degree murder after ‘stabbing her boyfriend because he broke up with her’.
Melanie Eam, 22, is now facing life in prison after a jury delivered the verdict in a Florida court on Thursday (local time).
Investigators claim Ms Eam, who was 20 at the time, killed 21-year-old James Barry because she was upset he had put an end to their relationship, WPTV reports.
They prosecutors reportedly said she loved Mr Barry, but was overcome with anger.
On Wednesday Ms Eam‘s defence attorney Bruce Lehr proposed another explanation of what may have happened at Mr Barry’s home in Loxahatchee Acreage on November 17, 2016.
According to CBS12, Ms Eam’s attorney suggested that Mr Barry’s mother’s boyfriend, Guy Hand, had become involved in an argument with her over her relationship with Mr Barry.
The attorney alleged that Mr Barry got in the middle of the pair to protect Ms Eam when he was stabbed.
Mr Hand testified that he did not stab Mr Barry to death.
“You can use your common sense,” Prosecutor Scott Reid said, according to WPTV.
“You’re sitting in a place where you’re safe, you’re with two officers.
“If you watched another man kill the person that you say you love, that’s when you say look, ‘Guy Hand is the one who stabbed him. James and I were in an argument, Guy Hand came in.’
“As the defense would have you believe, he got in the middle of it and he stabbed James.
“She didn’t say that.”
Ms Eam did not testify in the trial. The 22-year-old is due to be sentenced on April 3.
