Woman admits she stabbed elderly drug buddy to death

Angeliea Brown, 34, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter today for the August, 2013, stabbing death of Winston Fields, 73, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Prosecutors had originally charged Brown with first-degree murder, for which a conviction would have meant life without parole. Instead, she's looking at 15 to 18 years in state prison.

According to the DA's office, Brown and Fields used drugs together - until they got into a squabble over money, at which point Brown stabbed Fields 10 times - once in the neck - then left him to die in his Washington Street home. On her way out, prosecutors say, she asked a neighbor where she could buy some drugs.

Fields was arrested several days later when she set off an alarm at Madison Park High School - where she was repacking a bag of heroin into smaller, retail-size plastic bags. Blood found on items in her purse were tested and found to be Fields'.

In a statement, the DA's office says:

In accepting her plea to the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors considered the challenges they would have faced at trial, including potential defense motions bringing Brown’s criminal history to the jury’s attention and a likely self-defense claim. They also considered the number of injuries to the victim, the defendant’s flight from the apartment without calling for medical help, and inculpatory statements she allegedly made to others in the aftermath of the homicide.