Prosecution says it could not prove Marjorie S. Swan intended to kill her boyfriend.
Marjorie Swan was sentenced today to six months in jail in the fatal hammer attack of her boyfriend. Onondaga County Judge William Walsh sentenced Marjorie S. Swan to five years’ probation, with six months in the Onondaga County Correctional Facility in Jamesville.
Swan, 40, pleaded guilty May 10 to a felony count of second-degree assault in the attack on Hewlett Gibson last June 23. Gibson, 50, of East Laurel Street, died July 2 at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center.
The medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide in October, but Swan has been facing only the second-degree assault charge since the incident.
In March, Swan rejected a proposed deal calling for her to be sentenced to three years in state prison.
She told Walsh she was innocent. He told her the prosecution could seek to pursue a homicide charge.
But the sides then worked out the deal calling for probation and “shock” time in local jail.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Alison Fineberg told Walsh today the prosecution could not show Swan intended to kill or seriously injure Gibson. She also said the medical examiner’s office determined Gibson had a prior medical condition that contributed, along with assault, to his death.
Both Fineberg and defense lawyer Donald Kelly declined comment today on Gibson’s prior medical condition or how it contributed to his death.
Kelly said on the day Gibson was injured last June, the victim and Swan were engaged in “domestic violence combat” during which Swan threw a number of items, including a hammer, at Gibson.
Fineberg would only say the incident occurred during “mutual strife” between the parties and that there had been a history of trouble between them.
Fineberg said she believed the most appropriate resolution of the case was Swan’s guilty plea to the reckless assault charge.