LANCASTER, Pa.– The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently dismissed a claim that a man who stabbed his wife more than 80 times was acting out of self-defense, and his life sentence for his first-degree murder charge will stand.
Carrington Joseph was convicted of the May 2, 2014 murder in November of last year, after claiming the killing was in self-defense during an argument with his wife.
Melissa Joseph, a mother of five, was killed inside her home in front of her two infant children, and suffered over 80 stab wounds. Carrington Joseph didn’t have a single stab wound, and retrieved multiple knives during the attack, as some of them broke during the murder.
The court also noted that Joseph threatened to stab other women who tried to rescue Melissa from the home as she was in a doorway. He then proceeded to drag her back into the home to finish his attack.
Assistant District Attorney, Travis S. Anderson, wrote that the attack was clearly a case of first-degree murder, as it took time and was a series of repeated attacks. The court opined that the attack was carried out with deliberate thought and action.
