‘Don’t make me kill you’: Man who ‘permanently erased’ mother of 3 by stabbing her 20 times gets life

A Maryland man will spend the rest of his life in prison for stabbing a mother of three 20 times after an argument over stolen items, leaving her to bleed to death in a front yard for a neighbor to find.

Deanthony Lamont Warrick, 35, was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison without parole in the death of Jasmine Lakesha Hicks, 29, the State’s Attorney for Charles County announced in a news release. He was convicted in June of first-degree murder.

Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, applauded the outcome.

“The decision to seek a LWOP sentence — the most serious penalty in the State of Maryland — is mine and not made lightly,” he said. “I am gratified that the Court, having heard all the evidence at trial and all the testimony and arguments during sentencing, saw this case the way I did and imposed LWOP. The vicious and callous way he committed this crime, in my mind, says he should never walk free in our community again. He purposefully and permanently erased Jasmine Hicks from this planet — forever. Justice requires he be held accountable. The jury held him accountable with their verdict and the Judge imposed the proper and just sentence we requested.”

Hicks was killed on April 12, 2023. The stabbing happened during an argument about items that Warrick claimed had been stolen from him by someone else, officials said. During that argument, Warrick began stabbing Hicks’ head, face, neck, shoulders, back, chest, abdomen, and arms. The bloodshed was caught on a nearby surveillance video.

Audio captured him saying, “Don’t make me kill you,” as he stabbed her, prosecutors said.

Afterward, Warrick fled, leaving the mortally wounded Hicks in the yard in the 2300 block of Woodberry Drive in Bryans Road, where she remained from midnight to 6:30 a.m. when a neighbor discovered her and called police, officials said. Police found Warrick the following day and said he confessed to the murder. An autopsy said Hicks had 20 stab wounds.

At the sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Caspar told the Court, “If I have ever seen a case that deserves life without parole, it is this one. The defendant left her in that yard, all alone, in the dark, to bleed to death. And, as we know from the surveillance audio, her death did not come mercifully quick. She suffered greatly before her death. This was vile, malicious, and vengeful.”

In sentencing the defendant, Charles County Circuit Court Judge William R. Greer Jr. said, “This was a heartless death … cold-blooded and vile.”

In her obituary, Hicks, a mother of three, was remembered fondly.

“The world has lost an incredible young lady who will be deeply missed by all who knew her,” the obituary said. “She will be remembered for her love of life, and all the wonderful memories she created with her family and friends who loves her so much. We are so grateful and truly blessed to have had her in our lives and we will forever cherish every precious memory. May she rest in peace knowing that she left behind a legacy that will live on forever in the hearts of those who loved her dearly.”

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