A mentally ill homeless woman pleaded no contest Monday to obstructing or resisting an LAPD officer moments before a man on Skid Row was shot to death by police last year.
Trishawn Cardessa Carey, 35, entered her plea to the misdemeanor count — reduced from a felony — as jury selection was scheduled to begin in her trial in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, according to Deputy District Attorney Gregory Denton.
A felony count of assault with a deadly weapon is expected to be dismissed as a result of her plea.
Carey is facing three years of probation, along with completion of a court-ordered community program to be determined, according to the prosecutor. Sentencing is scheduled April 20 before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Drew Edwards.
Carey’s attorney could not be reached for immediate comment on the plea.
A passerby shot video on his cellphone that showed Carey picking up and raising a police baton that had been dropped by an officer, then being detained by police, Denton said.
The fracas occurred moments before 39-year-old Charly Keunang — an unarmed, homeless man known on Skid Row as “Africa” — was shot and killed by police.
— Wire reports