WIFE TO FACE TRIAL IN HUSBAND’S DEATH
Woman claims self-defense as judge criticizes ‘offensive’ testimony
A Warren judge called a key witnesses testimony “offensive” and “dangerously not credible” before granting a first-degree murder charge for a woman authorities contend fatally stabbed her husband.
The ruling came after the witness tried to downplay the woman’s actions.
Judge Michael Chupa of 37th District late Tuesday afternoon bound over Shakina Thomas-Alexander, 34, to Macomb County Circuit Court on the premeditated-murder charge for the January 2022 slaying of her husband, Daetorian Thomas-Alexander, in their home. The ruling followed a preliminary examination. Firstdegree murder carries an automatic penalty of life without parole upon conviction.
Chupa called witness Shandon Bronson’s testimony “offensive” and “shockingly and dangerously not credible” before ruling.
“It sounds to me like he’s going back and trying to offer a shield for a defense to the woman who killed the person he had described as someone who was almost a brother to him,” Chupa said.
Bronson changed his version of the incident for the second time by claiming Daetorian was “choking” Shakina on a sectional couch in the moments before she stabbed him in the upper back near his left shoulder, which would be in line with a self-defense claim.
He did not mention that in either of his two prior statements to police. Bronson said in a prior version that Mr. Thomas-Alexander was walking away from his wife when she attacked him from behind in the living room.
In addition, both Bronson and Mrs. Thomas-Alexander initially lied, telling police an intruder stabbed Daetorian before recanting that claim a short time later.
Chupa said from the bench the wound tract from back to front and left to right indicates Shakina Thomas-Alexander was telling her husband, “I don’t want to tolerate your existence any more.”
That prompted Mrs. Thomas-Alexander, who was sitting in the jury box in court, to shake her head in disagreement.
Her attorney, Randy Rodnick, had argued for manslaughter or “at worst, second-degree murder,” if the judge did not agree with dismissing the case due to self defense.
Rodnick was prevented by Chupa from questioning Bronson about whether he knew about any prior physical disputes between the couple.
After the court hearing, Sabrina Madison of Detroit, who is Shakina Thomas-Alexander’s mother, said her daughter suffered from years of physical abuse from her husband.
“This has been going on for years,” Madison said. “That man beat my child all of the time. It (death) was going to happen to one of them.”
Madison said in December 2015, when the couple lived in Westland, Daetorian Thomas-Alexander kicked her daughter in the stomach while she was pregnant, causing their son
to be born prematurely. She and Rodnick said he was charged with attempted murder but the charge was later dropped.
She said her daughter described four or five prior incidents to her, including in 2020 when he hit her in the nose, causing it to bleed. She also told her aunt about other abuse, she said.
The stabbing took place at about 1:45 a.m. Jan. 8 in the home on Audrey Avenue, located north of Eight Mile Road and east of Ryan Road.
Bronson testified he arrived about 10:30 to 10:45 p.m. Jan. 7 and the trio drank alcohol and watched TV while the couple’s three young children were in their bedroom. Bronson admitted he was intoxicated after drinking about 48 ounces of beer before he arrived.
He said the couple argued though he did not know why. During an initial argument Bronson, who was sitting on a love seat, got up and sat between them on the couch.
He returned to the love seat and, after less than an hour they started arguing again. He said he again tried to get between them but was overpowered.
They were “throwing punches” at each other, Bronson said. Mr. ThomasAlexander was “cursing” and Mrs. Thomas-Alexander, the owner of the house, was telling him to leave.
He testified Shakina was able to grab the knife, a 13inch Home Hero kitchen knife, from a counter as her husband was on top of her and stabbed him in the back. He said she was trying to grab any object from the counter, which contained
many items such as a ruler, toys and kitchen utensils.
Daetorian got up on his feet and was able to stand and walk for two to three minutes but then collapsed to the living room floor, according to Bronson, who initially didn’t think the stab wound was serious but when he fell, “a lot of blood” flowed from his body. Bronson began to apply towels to the wound to stop the bleeding and told Shakina to call 911.
In the 911 call played in court, Shakina screams repeatedly for first responders to “hurry” in sending help.
“He’s bleeding everywhere, please hurry,” she says.
She fails to directly reply to the 911 dispatcher who asks her who stabbed her husband and where the stabber is located.
“There was somebody else and they got into it,” she says.
At one point, she describes the attacker as a “friend.”
At another point she is heard saying, possibly to Bronson, that she is “already f------.”
Under questioning from Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Dana Chiamp, Warren police Det. Jim Twardesky, who interviewed Shakina at the police station, testified the couch appears to be a fair distance from the kitchen counter, making it “tough” for her to grab the knife while being assaulted.
“She indicated to me … she had reached over the back of her head as she was being assaulted and was just looking desperately for anything at all
that she could get to defend herself with and must have grabbed the knife and then stabbed him with the knife,” Twardesky said. “But when I looked at the picture (of the living room) there were a couple of things that caught my attention: One, the gap between the couch and the counter. It seems like that would be tough for some to make that reach while also having a grown man on top of them assaulting them.”
In addition, there were several “loose items” items on the counter, he noted.
“None of that is disturbed, none of that is knocked around. That caught my attention,” he said. “How did she not knock over any of that other stuff trying to reach for this knife?”
Also, the only blood was a puddle on the living room floor where Daetorian was found, with none on or near the couch. Phillip Trysh, a Warren Police Department evidence technician, testified the “large pool of blood” indicates “this is the starting point and the ending point.”
A small amount of blood was found on the front of Shakina’s clothing, Trysh said.
Twardesky testified she did not have any marks on her neck and her voice didn’t seem affected, typical indicators of choking or strangulation.
The only injuries on her were an abrasion to the area between her upper lip and nose, and scratches on the top of her chest, he said.
Shakina, who is being held in lieu of a $500,000 bond, faces a Dec. 12 circuit court arraignment in front of Judge Diane Druzinski.