Banks, 21, initially was charged with second-degree murder of Keon J. Robinson, but she pleaded guilty in Richmond Circuit Court to voluntary manslaughter. The lesser charge implies she killed Robinson in the heat of passion after she was provoked.
The stabbing took place Feb. 9 outside the Coalter Street Apartments in the 1300 block of Coalter Street in the city's East End. Neither Banks nor Robinson lived in those apartments, though Banks was visiting someone there.
Authorities said Banks was walking outside the apartments about 1 p.m. when Robinson called her ugly and struck her in the head.
Robinson, who had a blood alcohol concentration more than three times the legal limit for drivers, insulted Banks a second time and struck her again, authorities said.
"Wait right there," Banks told her assailant.
Banks has told police that she then went inside an apartment, grabbed a knife from the dishwasher and returned outside.
When Robinson struck her yet again, she lunged and stabbed him in the chest, causing him to die at the scene of blood loss, said Richmond prosecutor Anne Lloyd.
