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Harlem Wife Claims She Killed Her Husband Because of Abuse

By DNAinfo Staff on September 27, 2010 3:49pm

Donna Cobb, 42, is accused of killing her husband in 2006. Her murder trial opened Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Donna Cobb, 42, is accused of killing her husband in 2006. Her murder trial opened Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
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DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A Harlem woman who previously claimed she killed her husband in self-defense with a ceramic elephant actually intentionally stabbed him to death with a butter knife, prosecutors argued Monday.

Donna Cobb, 42, murdered her husband, Kevin Cobb, 39 at the time of his death, on Nov. 11, 2006, in their Harlem apartment, according to the Manhattan District Attorney. She then took calculated steps to cover up the crime scene and told four different versions of her story to police, prosecutors said.

Cobb's claim of self-defense, they argued, was bogus.

But according to Cobb's lawyer, Earl Ward, at the time of the fatal incident his client feared for her life while her husband was in an "uncontrollable rage" fueled by alcohol and cocaine.

According to Ward, since 1997, the accused had endured physical and psychological domestic abuse from her husband, a violent cocaine addict who had served time in prison for a drug conviction.

He allegedly once severely beat Cobb with a table and on another occasion violently assaulted her during one of her pregnancies.

"Something must have happened that caused her to take that butter knife and stab her husband," Ward said in his opening statement.

Later in the trial, Cobb and and her children are expected to testify about the history of domestic violence in their household.

Cobb is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and tampering with evidence.

If convicted, Cobb faces 25 years to life in prison.