Janyra Frazier, 19, of Lima, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for stabbing her then-girlfriend during the summer of 2023.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A 19-year-old Lima woman was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for stabbing her ex-girlfriend last summer.
Prosecutors say Janyra Frazier stabbed the woman with whom she had been in a romantic relationship for three years during an incident at a residence on Fourth Street in Lima. According to court records, Lima police responded to Memorial Health System on July 22 in reference to the stabbing and spoke with the victim, who had been stabbed in the back with a kitchen steak knife. The woman suffered a punctured lung and other injuries and was hospitalized for nearly a week.
Frazier, who was identified as the attacker, fled from the scene and was not taken into custody until Sept. 15. She was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of felonious assault.
Allen County prosecutors in January of this year extended a plea offer that called for Frazier to plead guilty to a single count of felonious assault, a felony of the second degree. In exchange, the state would dismiss a second felonious assault charge and would not make any sentencing recommendation. After initially rejecting the offer Frazier agreed to it five days later.
During Monday’s sentencing hearing before Judge Jeffrey Reed, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joe Everhart said the victim has been “hesitant to fully cooperate” in the case but noted that the woman said she feared for her life and “was afraid Ms. Frazier would kill her if she was released from jail.”
Attorney Steve Chamberlain from the Allen County Public Defenders Office said the victim in the case “does not exactly have clean hands in all this.” He said the women were involved in an at-times volatile relationship, adding that the victim had previously been charged with false imprisonment related to an earlier dispute between the two.
“This was not an isolated incident between these two. My client also feared for her life,” Chamberlain said.
Frazier said she stabbed her girlfriend “because I was trying to protect myself. … I know that is not an excuse for my actions.”
Reed sentenced Frazier to a minimum of two years in prison, with credit for 216 days served in the county jail. She will be eligible for judicial release, the judge said.
