MOUNT HOLLY TWP. -- The woman charged with beating her husband to death with a fire extinguisher claims that she did so in self defense.

The public defender for Laciana Tinsley, 42, of Willingboro, claimed during Tinsley's appearance Superior Court in Burlington County that she was being suffocated by her husband, Douglas Tinsley, 74.

Tinsley is charged with murdering her husband by hitting him repeatedly in the head with a fire extinguisher at their home in Willingboro Monday around 12:30 p.m.

She is being held at the Burlington County Jail pending a detention hearing Friday. The prosecutor's office has filed a motion to have Tinsley held without bail.

At the first appearance Tuesday, Tinsley appeared by video feed in an orange jumpsuit and only gave brief answers to Judge Christopher Garrenger's questions.

Her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Cedric Edwards, said she has no prior criminal record.

"Her husband was trying to smother her. He's a violent man," he said. "Thus we have this event that led to this."

Edwards asked that the prosecution turn over any statements Tinsley made to police during or after her arrest be made available to the defense before the detention hearing Friday.

No one answered the door at the the Tinsley's home on Hancock Lane Tuesday afternoon. Neighbors said they did not know the couple well but did overhear them arguing sometimes.

According to a 2016 Trenton Monitor article about Laciana Tinsley's conversion from Jehovah's Witness to Catholicism, she is a mother of three. It said she was a member of the St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Burlington Township.

If the medical examiner rules Douglas Tinsley's death a homicide, it will be the second of 2017 in Willingboro.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.