CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A woman who pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding after an August 2023 stabbing incident in Kanawha City is receiving an alternative sentencing of about six months in a rehab facility.
Jasmine Terry, 23, went before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Dave Hardy Monday for sentencing. She was charged with stabbing Katherine George, 48, at her home in Kanawha City.
Hardy sentenced Terry be admitted to St. Joseph’s Recovery Center in Parkersburg along with two years of probation.
Terry’s attorney, Bryan Escue said it’s a case that is a reflection of the mental health crisis as well as the drug crisis in Kanawha County, and Terry has been a victim to that her whole life.
“It put her in a situation where she was with another gentleman and they were using together, she did not realize there was another paramour in the trap house that came home and was upset,” he said.
Police had said Terry stabbed George in the stomach after arriving at the Kanawha City home where the two proceeded to get into a fight. However, Escue said it wasn’t a case of malicious wounding.
“My client was not out searching for somebody to stab, she was searching to get high, and usually when that combination is put together, bad things happen,” Escue said.
Terry has already been incarcerated for nearly a year. She had previously attempted to go through a couple of other drug rehab facilities, but due to unknown reasons, she left before serving the full extent of her treatment.
Hardy, however, gave her a stern warning Monday after sentencing her to St. Joseph’s.
“You walk out of that program, they put you out with some sort of issue, then it’s over,” he said.