Lakiesha M. Brown

Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse woman who confessed to stabbing her boyfriend to death -- but said he attacked her first -- will head to trial Monday unless she takes a plea deal first.

Lakiesha Brown, 36, is considering a pretrial plea offer that would send her to prison for 3 to 9 years on a second-degree manslaughter charge. That's the best offer made so far: she previously rejected a 10-year offer.

And her charge at trial carries up to a 25-year prison sentence, though Judge John Bruunetti has already ruled out a maximum sentence.

Prosecutor Jeremy Cali said today he felt the latest plea offer -- 3 to 9 years -- was fair, considering the circumstances of the case. It was similar to sentences in similar cases, he said.

Brown stabbed her live-in boyfriend, David A. Jones, 43, in the groin at their Charmout Avenue residence, leaving a 2 1/2-inch cut that caused him to bleed profusely and led to his death, Cali said.

A Syracuse police detective who arrived at the scene testified that she had to stand on her tippy-toes to avoid "blood everywhere" at the residence.

Brown initially claimed someone else had stabbed Jones, but later confessed and said he had attacked her first.

Brown told police that Jones had been fighting her with a knife. She took the knife and stabbed him in self defense.

Her children testified before a grand jury that indicted her on a manslaughter charge, Cali revealed today.

If she goes to trial, Brown will try to show that she was justified for killing Jones in self-defense. But she faces much more prison time if a jury doesn't buy it.

If she takes the plea deal, Brown could be paroled in less than two years: she's already spent a year behind bars that would be taken off her prison sentence.

Brunetti gave her until Friday to decide.