5-10 years in prison for Philly woman who fatally stabbed her boyfriend

The consensus in court Friday was that Lionel Perez and Loidy Irrizarri were madly in love and not very good for each other.

There was the Dec. 3, 2013, incident, when Irrizarri said Perez attacked her with a stick and injured her stomach. But when Perez went to trial in February 2014, court records show, Irrizarri failed to appear and charges were withdrawn.

Then there was the morning of March 30, 2014, when Perez showed up uninvited at Irrizarri's Olney house, allegedly drunk and belligerent, and she plunged a 4-inch blade into his neck. Afterward, she tried performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him. When that failed, she packed her bags and fled.

On Friday, after an emotional hearing in which Perez's mother had to be dragged from court screaming hysterically, a Philadelphia judge sentenced Irrizarri, 24, to five to 10 years in prison, followed by 15 years on probation and anger-management class.

Common Pleas Court Judge Genece E. Brinkley said she usually empathized with domestic violence victims. But Brinkley said she did not believe Irrizarri was sorry and did not believe her version of what happened.

"I think she's sorry she got caught and finds herself in this situation," Brinkley added.

Brinkley noted that the autopsy on Perez, 22, showed no alcohol in his blood, and the crime scene photo of Irrizarri's kitchen - she said Perez threw her around the kitchen - "was pristine."

"There was blood in the living room and blood outside, but nothing in the kitchen," Brinkley said. The judge added that Irrizarri had slashed at but missed Perez in the Dec. 3, 2013, incident in which Perez was arrested.

Defense lawyer Robert Mozenter, who asked Brinkley to sentence Irrizarri to time served awaiting trial, was incensed at the sentence.

"I want to get out of this courtroom," Mozenter said as he walked out. "I'll never do a waiver trial in front of you again."

Irrizarri elected a waiver - or nonjury - trial before Brinkley. In June, Brinkley acquitted Irrizarri of murder, finding her guilty of the lesser count of voluntary manslaughter and a weapons count.

In arguing for probation, Mozenter said Irrizarri had never before been arrested, and called Perez's death the tragic result of a "love affair that went violent."

Mozenter said Irrizarri's daughter, 8, is living with her mother in the Dominican Republic, and presented three friends from Olney who told Brinkley she was a good person and was welcome to stay with them when she is free.

"I guarantee you will never see her in a criminal court again," Mozenter told the judge.

Assistant District Attorney Peter Lim asked for 10 to 20 years in prison, saying Irrizarri "literally had to step over the body to get out and take a cab."

Irrizarri was not arrested until May 9, 2014.

"She didn't just kill one person, she killed everybody here," Lim said, pointing to more than 25 of Perez's relatives in the courtroom gallery.

In court, Irrizarri did turn around and apologize to Perez's family; the family was unmoved. Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Perez's parents, Luis Lajara and Ana Perez, sobbed recalling their first-born child and only son, and Lajara had to pull his hysterical wife from court.

"I don't know what your relationship was like," cousin Crystal Lajara told Irrizarri, "but what happened was not fair, not fair to us. He wasn't a monster."