Woman sentenced to prison in 2023 fatal stabbing

Says the man she killed was trying to rape her

A Columbus woman is facing six years in prison for fatally stabbing a man she says was raping her in her car.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young sentenced 35-yearold Shunta Hodges on Wednesday for the death of 39-year-old Joseph Higgins last September. Hodges’ attorney, Lumumba Toure Mccord, had asked Young to give her the minimum sentence of three years.

According to Mccord, Hodges was facing trial last month on a murder trial. He said that Hodges had a good self-defense argument, but she took a plea agreement with the county prosecuting attorneys to avoid a possible murder conviction and sentence that could keep her away from her kids for life.

Hodges entered an Alford plea to involuntary manslaughter, meaning she maintains her innocence, but acknowledges the evidence against her would likely mean a conviction at trial and a longer sentence than she will get with the plea deal.

On Sept. 25, 2023, Hodges and Higgins left a party in North Linden to have consensual sex in her car, Mccord said, but after she wanted to stop he became aggressive and forced himself on her.

“Then he got really aggressive and started to threaten to kill her and choke her,” Mccord said.

“And she was able to reach a weapon she keeps in her car and stab him in the chest.”

Hodges is genuinely remorseful for having been in that situation, Mccord said. He said he wonders how this would have played out at trial and how female jurors would have reacted to the circumstances.

“Even though it may have started out consensual, do you have right to say ‘no’? And if the person doesn’t stop, what do you do?” Mccord said.

The Franklin County Prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. jlaird@dispatch.com @Lairdwrites