Woman convicted of killing neighbor
By Paul Nelson
Updated 5:19 p.m., Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tina Karuzas, 27, of 201 Elm St., Schenectady was charged with first-degree manslaughter Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, after she allegedly stabbed a neighbor during a fight about loud music playing in Karuzas' apartment. (Schenectady Police Department) / AL
SCHENECTADY — A mother of three who stabbed her downstairs neighbor to death last year during a fight over loud music, faces up to 25 years behind bars for the crime.
Jurors deliberated for over three hours over two days before convicting Tina Karuzas, 28, on Thursday of first-degree manslaughter. Latoya Ebron, 26, died Dec. 26 at the Central State Street home where both women had apartments.
Karuzas' sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17.
Ebron, an unemployed mother of two, had gone upstairs to confront Karuzas about loud music from a party of about a dozen teens Karuzas was hosting for a family friend. Ebron said the noise kept her children awake.
The verbal dispute escalated into a physical altercation and Ebron was stabbed once in the abdomen. She later died at a hospital.
On the stand, Karuzas told jurors she had the knife for protection and stabbed Ebron in self defense because she feared for her life and her young daughter, who was home at the time.
Assistant District Attorney William Sanderson, who had countered during the trial that Karuzas didn't need to use lethal force, lauded the jury for the verdict.
"The jury did their job, the jury worked hard and found the truth and applied the law," said Sanderson, who handled the case along with Michael DeMatteo.
Sanderson surmised that jurors rejected Karuzas' explanation because it didn't jibe with the medical evidence or testimony from teenage party-goers, who reported seeing a thrusting or stabbing motion during the deadly struggle.
"The medical evidence supported only one thing: an intentional act," he said.
Public Defender Mark Caruso, who represented Karuzas, did not return repeated calls Thursday seeking comment.
This is not the first time that Ebron's family has been touched by violence.
In June 2010, two of her brothers, Nasjarah Pulliam, 11, and Shaune Daniels, 19, were wounded during a shooting in the middle of the day. One of the alleged shooters, Kody Pierce, 20, was acquitted of all charges. His co-defendant, Kirel Prince, 18, pleaded guilty to assault and is serving time for the admission.
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