Man pleads no contest to poker game killing

Thirty-one year-old Wendy Georges pleaded no contest this morning to stabbing a man in the back as the two of them fought during a poker game at a Norwich apartment on Dec. 14, 2010.

Georges will be sentenced April 12 to 12 1/2 years in prison followed by seven years of special parole for first-degree manslaughter.

Georges, assisted by a Haitian interpreter, entered the plea during an appearance in New London Superior Court. He has been held in lieu of $1 million bond since he was arrested hours after the stabbing.

Family and friends of the 23-year-old victim, John Stevens Fleurimond, occupied a full row of benches in the courtroom. Some wept silently as prosecutor Stephen M. Carney recited the facts of the case. The family thinks the prison term is too short and intends to speak at the sentencing, according to Carney. Fleurimond, who was from New York, had come to the area for work, according to Carney.

Georges and Fleurimond were playing cards at Fleurimond’s apartment at 461 Boswell Avenue when Georges, suspecting Fleurimond of cheating, grabbed him by the throat, according to Carney. Fleurimond pulled a knife and slashed Georges. Others pulled the two men apart, but Georges eventually broke free, grabbed the knife and stabbed Fleurimond in the back.

Public Defender Bruce A. Sturman said he and Georges had discussed going to trial with a self-defense claim, since Fleurimond had pulled the knife on Georges first. It would have been an “imperfect defense,” Sturman said, since the crime did not occur in Georges’ home and the judge would have instructed the jury that under the law, Georges had a duty to retreat.

The prosecutor had recommended a 15-year prison sentence followed by five years of probation, but Judge Patrick J. Clifford, who has the final authority, said he would be imposing the 12 1/2 year sentence with seven years of special parole.

As he left the courtroom, Georges turned to his family members, who occupied their own row of benches, and briefly addressed them in Haitian.