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An Ohio woman who was accused of fatally stabbing her former best friend will spend no more than three years behind bars after taking a plea deal this week.
After initially being charged with murder, Bryanna Barozzini, 20, pleaded guilty last month to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her former friend Halia Culbertson, 17, last year in Northland, Ohio. Columbus police said Barozzini stabbed the ex-pal at a convenience store on March 26, 2023, after the pair got into a heated argument that swiftly turned violent.
“Nothing has scarred me so badly as losing Halia,” the victim’s sister, Kaelyn Culbertson, told the court. “How can someone be so cruel? How can someone be so vicious? Someone who was supposed to be my sister’s best friend killed her and left her to bleed out.”
A sentencing memo filed by the defense revealed that Barozzini and Culbertson were once friends but had a falling out. On the night of the stabbing, Barozzini walked into the convenience store, not knowing that Culbertson was there, and an argument ensued, WBSN reports.
Culbertson was reportedly removed from the store by an employee but remained outside while Barozzini was still in the store, surveillance video showed, according to court documents seen by local outlets.
When Barozzini left the store with a man, Culbertson approached them in the parking lot and confronted her former friend, who she threatened, pushed, and then struck, according to court records. Meanwhile, Barozzini repeatedly backed away, insisting she did not want to fight.
As the argument escalated, Barozzini swung a knife at Culbertson, who only noticed she had blood on her chest after the fight ended, the defense team claimed.
While prosecutors said it was reasonable for Barozzini to be upset over Culbertson’s aggression, her actions did not justify using a knife on her.
"None of those actions justify Bryanna Barozzini taking a knife and plunging it into Halia’s clavicle. Rather, that is an act of unjustifiable rage," prosecutors said, WBSN reports.
While Barozzini was at first handed a murder charge, the state ultimately accepted an involuntary manslaughter plea, with the 20-year-old now sentenced to up to three years in prison for the knife attack.
“It feels like a betrayal of my daughter’s memory and the justice she was promised,” Culbertson’s mother, Haley Culbertson, said in comments reported by The Columbus Dispatch.
“She wished my daughter to hell. She was clearly mad. Swore on her whole family her intent, so how does she end up in the same place at the same time?”
At her sentencing hearing on Thursday, the convicted woman spoke briefly about the incident at Culbertson’s death.
“I will be living with this guilt the rest of my life,” she said.
