Woman pleads no contest in slaying

Carol Wilkins has killed two men.

And now she’s been convicted of manslaughter in both cases.

Monday, Wilkins pleaded no contest to manslaughter and weapon use in the September 2008 death of 45-year-old Brent St. John near 31st and Chicago Streets.

Wilkins, 38, of Topeka, Kan., faces up to 40 years in prison when she’s sentenced in April.

She had originally faced the possibility of life in prison after prosecutors charged her with first-degree murder in St. John’s death.

However, prosecutor John Alagaban said, he reduced charges against Wilkins because of concerns about the reliability of some people who had witnessed the events leading up to St. John’s death.

Wilkins and St. John had been drinking Sept. 2 at the California Bar from about 9 p.m. to close. Most of the people who had been around both Wilkins and St. John had been drinking as well, Alagaban said.

Alagaban said prosecutors were working under the theory that Wilkins may have sought to rob St. John or take advantage of him after the bar closed.

Wilkins had a different story, claiming that St. John tried to grope her, and she slashed him with a knife inside his apartment.

St. John’s neighbors reported finding him dead, with his throat slashed, on Sept. 4.

In 1992, Wilkins was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her boyfriend at their Topeka home. The 29-year-old boyfriend, George L. Okal, was a Kenyan seeking political asylum in the United States. He was shot in the head at point-blank range.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, Wilkins pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in that case.

She was sentenced to four to 16 years in prison and was paroled in 1997, but she violated the parole several times and had to return to custody each time, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Contact the writer:

444-1275, todd.com

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