Windi Thomas, a 44-year-old from Erie, faces up to 36 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the March death of 41-year-old Keeno Butler, according to GoErie.com .
Prosecutors said that Thomas killed Butler in March 2018 in the couple's apartment.
She told investigators that she smothered Butler with the weight of her body, and that she cut him on the hand with a knife and hit him with a table leg.
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The reason the two were fighting remains unclear, but Thomas was reportedly drunk and wanted to smoke crack when the pair got into an argument, Fox 5 NY reported.
An autopsy ruled Butler's death a homicide "caused by respiratory insufficiency secondary to blunt force trauma to the neck and thoracic compression, exacerbated by blunt force trauma to the head," according to an affidavit.
Thomas called 911 after the altercation and told police she had killed Butler. His body was found on the living room floor of the couple's apartment.
Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced on December 21.
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A third-degree murder conviction's maximum sentence is 20 to 40 years in prison.
As part of Thomas’s plea deal, the recommended sentence is 18 to 36 years, and Assistant Erie County District Attorney Jeremy Lightner dropped charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and possession of the instrument of crime.
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