Woman sentenced to 8 years for killing husband

A 44-year-old Little Rock woman who stabbed her husband to death last year has been sentenced to eight years in prison with the requirement that she continue mental-health counseling once she’s released.

Christie Marie Buckner, represented by attorneys Don Thompson and Lisa Walton-Middleton, pleaded guilty as charged to manslaughter on Thursday in exchange for the prison term.

Under the requirements set by deputy prosecutor Jennifer Corbin, Buckner will serve a two-year suspended sentence when she’s released from prison that is conditioned on Buckner going to counseling, court records show. The maximum sentence for the Class C felony is 10 years.

State doctors found Buckner, also known as Christie Berry, Christie Howton and Christie Morgan, fit to stand trial in July following an extended stay in the State Hospital. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled her fit for trial at a hearing that month.

She had been committed to the mental health institution after doctors reported in August 2017 that she was not competent to participate in her own defense, noting she had displayed symptoms of mental illness in the past.

The following December, doctors deemed her fit for trial, reporting that she was not mentally ill but was subject to anti-personality disorders and alcohol abuse.

Her lawyers challenged those findings, and Buckner was returned to the State Hospital in February after they questioned whether she had been receiving her medications. Her attorneys had Buckner examined by their own doctor and in July accepted the state doctor’s diagnosis that she was not mentally ill but had been exaggerating the symptoms of mental disease.

Earl Buckner, 55, was her third husband, and the couple had been married about 19 months, but had been together for several years, when Little Rock police were called to the couple’s East Eighth Street home in March 2017 by a woman who told 911 dispatchers that she had just stabbed her husband.

Police arrived to find Earl Buckner and Christie Buckner in their living room. Earl Buckner was lying on the couch bleeding as Christie Buckner stood over him applying pressure to the wound, according to a police report.

She told investigators they had been arguing and her husband had approached her with a knife, so she grabbed a knife and stabbed him.

Earl Buckner died about 90 minutes later after emergency surgery. Christie Buckner was arrested after a friend approached officers at the home and showed them a text-message exchange she had with Christie Buckner over about a two-hour span that night, the last one sent about two minutes before police were called.

The texts said Christie Buckner expected the police would be arriving at the couple’s home that night because of their arguing and that she would stab Earl Buckner after he stabbed her, according to police reports.

A neighbor told detectives the couple had an abusive relationship and regularly fought during the four years she had known them.

The neighbor said Christie Buckner also had texted her that night, beginning about two hours before the stabbing, describing how she and her husband were arguing. Shortly before police were called, the neighbor received a text from Christie Buckner saying she was going to stab her husband.

Police reports and court records documented allegations of violence against Earl Buckner.

In May 2016, officers responded to the residence and found Christie Buckner drunk with dried blood “all over her mouth.” She told police that her husband, whom she wed eight months earlier, had punched her in the face during an argument.

Earl Buckner, who also was drunk, accused his wife of starting the fight. Police arrested him for domestic battery, for which he was later convicted. Christie Buckner also obtained an order of protection against him.

Officers were called to the home again in July 2016 after Earl Buckner violated the court order to stay away from her. Police responded to a disturbance at the couple’s residence and arrested Earl Buckner after finding him nearby drinking beer.

Christie Buckner’s first accusations against Earl Buckner came in June 2014 when she got an order of protection against him for attacking her and threatening to kill her. The order petition shows she described him as someone who “drinks excessively” — he’d been convicted of public intoxication four times — and who had shown “violent behavior.”

Family members had shared similar stories. Earl Buckner’s two sisters told police in 2008 that he had thrown a brick at their heads and threatened to kill them, an arrest report states. He was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor assault in the case.