Woman gets 20 years for strangling boyfriend with cord

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut woman who says she choked her boyfriend to death with a 25-foot extension cord to protect herself has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Katherine Santiago of Hartford said she choked 27-year-old Marcos DeJesus to death on Dec. 21, 2013, by wrapping an electrical cord around his neck. She said she did it in self-defense after he hit her and pressed a pillow over her face during an argument.

Prosecutors persuaded the Hartford Superior Court jury that she did not justifiably kill DeJesus.

A police warrant says Santiago and DeJesus were breaking up and that she blamed another woman, who had two children with DeJesus and was pregnant with another child.

The Hartford Courant reports (http://cour.at/1IjGzWZ ) she received the maximum sentence on Wednesday.

___

Information from: Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com