TX Man Stabbed to Death Over Mother's Day Gift?
Paige Parkerson stabbed her fiance, Clifton Barkin. Or so says his mother, Evetta Wright.
Wright says she dropped her son off at home around 11:30 p.m. Sunday night after she took him to the local Walmart to pick up flowers and a card for Parkerson. She's the mother of his two small children. But just after midnight, she received a call from her future daughter-in-law.
Wright claims the 20-year-old mother of two confessed to stabbing her son.
Prosecutors in Beaumont, Texas officially charged Paige Parkerson with first degree murder on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. They believe she was upset with Barkin's meager Mother's Day present and stabbed him while their two sons slept in the other room.
Though flowers and a card are pretty standard, it's traditional to receive them before 11:30 p.m. at night. Not that forgetting about Mother's Day is an excuse to stab someone.
Which is probably why Parkerson was charged with first degree murder and not manslaughter. Prosecutors can only downgrade murder charges when there is evidence that the defendant killed in the heat of the moment. This requires a showing that the defendant was provoked by something that would have elicited a similar reaction from a reasonable person.
Most women would be mad if their man forgot Mother's Day (or any other special day). Some would even be turned off by a cheap gift. However, it's highly doubtful a reasonable woman would kill a man for making these mistakes. Paige Parkerson is therefore likely in for a long jail stay. That is, if she really did stab Clifton Barkin over his Mother's Day gift.
Related Resources:
- Paige Parkerson Allegedly Murders Clifton 'JR' Barkin Over Cheap Mother's Day Gift (Huffington Post)
- Voluntary Manslaughter (FindLaw)
- Woman Attacks Barricaded Boyfriend With Knife Over No Valentine Gift (FindLaw's Legally Weird)