Woman pleads guilty to manslaughter in boyfriend's 2020 death
A woman accused of killing her boyfriend during a domestic dispute inside a home in Maple Grove, Minnesota, has entered a guilty plea to one count of first-degree manslaughter, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
Thirty-five-year-old Stephanie Louise Clark entered the plea Thursday. A sentencing has been scheduled for the morning of Jan. 5, 2026.
Clark was initially charged with second-degree murder in the death of Don Juan Butler in March 2020, which happened during a domestic dispute. Although she was found guilty of the charge in 2021 and sentenced for it in February the following year, Clark filed an appeal, arguing that the court told the jury, for purposes of the state's self-defense law, fear of "imminent" harm also meant fear of "immediate" harm.
In March of 2024, the appeals court agreed the instruction was wrong, allowing Clark a new trial, according to court documents. Records show a new jury trial was scheduled to begin last Monday; however, that was canceled, and a plea agreement was made on Thursday.
Investigators said in court documents that Butler was shot in the head, and they found more bullet holes in his back.
The documents say Clark told authorities she was assaulted by Butler, and when she confronted him about a conversation she had with a man at a store earlier in the day, Butler started punching her at their home. She then reportedly left to pick her 5-year-old son up, and the argument continued when she returned to the home. That's when Clark told law enforcement she shot Butler in the chest multiple times, as well as in the head, because she "wanted him to stop talking."
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the case was "extraordinarily complicated" due to its core having "intimate partner violence."
"It occurred in a terrible set of circumstances and Ms. Clark has taken accountability for her role," said Moriarty, who continued to say in part that while Clark's actions went beyond what was legal for self-defense, "she had just been violently assaulted and threatened by Mr. Butler."
Morarity's office says Clark's sentence will fall somewhere between 74 and 103 months long. In addition, Clark won't be able to possess a gun in the future.