A pregnant Chicago woman claimed to be defending herself from her violent boyfriend.
Keshia Golden was arrested on October 23 and charged with first-degree murder after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend, Calvin Sidney, during an argument following her baby shower, over who would get to use the microwave to heat food.
According to The Chicago Sun-Times, the fight happened Sunday morning around 3 a.m. after the couple and other relatives returned to her Austin apartment, following the celebration on Saturday night.
Reportedly,
prosecutors said the argument escalated over the use of the microwave. Officials stated that 33-year-old Golden, eight months pregnant, knocked a plate out of the hands of Sidney, 29, who shoved her into the counter in retaliation. Sidney’s uncle attempted to separate the two before Sidney went to one of the bedrooms, where Golden allegedly followed with a knife and stabbed him in the leg.According to prosecutors, Golden dropped the knife and exited the apartment.
“She didn’t mean to kill anyone,” said Golden’s mother, Tarsha Ellis
. “She’s broke up about it. She didn’t know you could kill someone by stabbing them in the leg. She just wanted him to leave because he was acting out, and she was worried about hurting the baby. And he wouldn’t go.”The New York Post reported that Sidney allegedly suffered from a wound to his femoral artery and died at Mount Sinai Hospital. Unaware of her boyfriend’s death, Golden returned to her apartment, where she was arrested.
On Friday, Golden was ordered held on $2 million bail, with an upcoming appearance before a judge that her appointed attorney revealed would be scheduled less than two weeks before her due date.
“To not only force Keshia to give birth in jail but then to immediately take her child away after birth is cruel to the mother and the baby,” Golden’s public defender, Julie Koehler, told The Sun-Times.
“This heartless decision is contrary to Illinois law. All the evidence shows Keshia acted in self-defense. The only person she’s ever shown any violence toward was the man that was beating her.”
Officials revealed that five other accounts of domestic violence reportedly took place between the couple, four incidents in which Golden accused Sidney of allegedly choking, punching, slapping, or pushing her.
“It was just toxic with those two,” Ellis said. “But they loved each other. If he could raise up right now, they wouldn’t have no case because he would never want charges against her.”