Is North Dakota Woman Getting Away With Murder for a Second Time?

On May 30, 2020, Fargo police responded to a call about a stabbing at an apartment. Valley News Live later reported that the victim, 27-year-old Keanen Poitra, suffered a fatal injury from being stabbed near the groin. His girlfriend, then 32-year-old Terin Stately, was arrested and charged with his murder.

Stately faced life in prison for murder, but Inforum reports that, on June 25, 2021, she ended up pleading guilty to felony manslaughter. That means she only faces up to 10 years in prison instead of life. And the mother of Poitra's son, Kaitlyn Bigtrack, feels that Stately is getting away with murder - for a second time.

Back in 2012, Stately was one of six charged federally charged in a horrific crime. On New Year's Eve of 2011, Six people robbed a Red Lake Indian Reservation couple of their illegal drugs, stabbed the couple to death, and burned their house down. It was reported that Stately drove the getaway car, and she served three years in prison for her involvement in the crime.

Back to the current crime... Inforum reported that Stately initially claimed she did not do anything to Poitra. It was not until the bloody knife was found, hidden in the garbage, that Stately said she confronted Poitra about other women but then had to defend herself from his attack. She had several other versions of the story to tell, too. SIDENOTE: In the latest story, Inforum reports that Poitra was in the process of moving out of Stately's Fargo apartment and to Devils Lake. So, there would literally be zero reasons to get into an altercation about other women, hours before completing a moveout.

The only two people who know exactly what happened that night are Stately and Poitra. But, if a person is involved in multiple stabbing instances where three people died, it shows a violent pattern. If you can't work out a problem without resorting to fatal violence, you do not deserve to be free in society.

Do you think Terin Stately is, in a sense, getting away with murder?