Penn Hills woman pleads no contest in killing

A Penn Hills woman Monday pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in connection with a fatal stabbing in Braddock last year.

Police said Constance Carey, 52, killed Deontay Hamilton, 34, on May 16, 2015.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski, who presided over the non-jury trial, sentenced Carey to 11½ to 23 months in jail followed by three years of probation. The judge also ordered a drug and alcohol evaluation.

Carey’s attorney, James Sheets, maintained his client’s innocence and said he was happy with the sentence, because Carey could have faced life in prison had a judge or jury found her guilty of a more serious offense. Involuntary manslaughter is a misdemeanor.

“She was adamant that it wasn’t her,” Mr. Sheets said. “She left the residence before the incident ever happened.”

The stabbing occurred inside a house in the 500 block of Pine Way when Hamilton got into an argument with someone. A witness who talked to police said Carey said that she “can’t stand the victim and that she wanted him gone” and then got a kitchen knife and stabbed Hamilton, the affidavit said.