Schenectady Police: Woman killed boyfriend

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

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A city woman stabbed her longtime boyfriend to death late Sunday, police said.

The stabbing happened after the boyfriend, Adrian L. King, 51, was charged three separate times earlier this year with either choking the woman or preventing her from calling police, court records indicate.

Why the two were at the apartment together Sunday night was unclear. For the past month, he had been ordered by a court to completely stay away from the woman, records show.

Charged with one count of first-degree manslaughter was Jacqueline M. Smalls, 49, of 1512 Van Vranken Ave., Apt. 1.

Smalls was arraigned Monday morning on the manslaughter charge and ordered held without bail. She is to return to court Friday.

She is accused of stabbing King in the chest at about 11 p.m. Sunday at the apartment.

Police were called to the apartment shortly afterward following a 911 call reporting a man stabbed in the chest.

Officers arrived and found King bleeding from his chest, police said. He was treated and taken to Ellis Hospital, but he later died from his wounds.

Police filed the manslaughter count after consulting with the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, police spokesman Lt. Mark McCracken said.

Court papers also referenced “signed affidavits from witnesses, oral statements by the defendant, physical evidence” and the police investigations as the basis for the charge.

orders violated

Court records show multiple orders of protection have been filed this year to protect Smalls from King.

The early orders, from April, allowed the two to have contact, but provided for another charge should King commit another crime against Smalls.

King was charged with violating the orders twice, once in late April by choking her again, and once in July, accused of breaking her phone as she tried to call police.

The July charge against King resulted in Smalls asking for and receiving a full stay-away order of protection, records show. If there’s any interaction, a new charge can be filed.

It was unclear if either King or Smalls moved out of the apartment following the issuance of the full stay-away order of protection.

Police, though, Monday described both as still living in the apartment at the time of the stabbing. McCracken also said that Smalls did not inform police about King being in her presence. A neighbor also saw King earlier Sunday and nothing seemed amiss.

Angela Gomez, who lives across the street from the couple’s apartment, on Monday recalled both Smalls and King as nice people.

King, she said, often was out shoveling neighbors’ walks in the wintertime.

“He was a very sweet guy, friendly,” Gomez said. “And so was she, but she was more quiet than him.”

Gomez knew King by the name “St. Louis” or “In and Out.” She said King had just been over to her house earlier Sunday evening, helping fix her son’s bike.

“I’m in shock, I can’t believe it. He was a sweetheart,” Gomez said. “He’s going to be very well missed in this neighborhood.”

However, Gomez also recalled previous times police were called to the apartment.

King was arrested at least twice this year on charges he attacked Smalls on three separate dates, records show.

King was charged with misdemeanor criminal obstruction of breathing, accused of putting his hands around Smalls’ throat, applying pressure and causing her trouble breathing during a Jan. 25 incident at the apartment, records indicate. It was unclear exactly when King was arrested on that charge.

But, in late April, he was charged with first-degree criminal contempt, a felony, and misdemeanor criminal obstruction of breathing, accused of choking her again April 21, records show.

King pleaded guilty to related charges and received time served. He was in jail from April 22 to May 10.

Those charges resulted in the lower-level order of protection, records indicate.

He was charged again in July. Smalls tried to dial 911, apparently to report King, when King took her phone away and broke it, police said.

King was charged with second-degree criminal contempt and two counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief, all misdemeanors. Those charges remain pending.

Those charges also resulted in Smalls requesting and receiving a full stay-away order, records show. That order remained in place Sunday, meaning, had police found King in Smalls’ presence, he would have faced a new contempt charge.

Newspaper records indicate Smalls was charged in September 2007 with misdemeanor menacing. A request for information about that case’s resolution, though, turned up nothing Monday.