Mother sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally stabbing her two children

Nikki James, 45, was charged with the murder of her son and daughter in May 2022

A Kentucky mother has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the deaths of her two children.

Nikki James, 45, was sentenced without probation on Friday, June 28, after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal stabbings of her children, Skyler, 5, and Deon Williams, 13, in Lexington, Kentucky, in May 2022, according to the The Lexington Herald ChiefFox 56 and WKYT.

The children were found seriously injured in a “stabbing and cutting” incident at the family's apartment, police said at the time of the incident, according to media reports. They were taken to hospital where they later died of their injuries.

James was arrested and charged with their murders shortly after.

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James was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each count of second-degree manslaughter in a modified plea agreement on June 9, avoiding life in prison after doctors found she had been experiencing psychosis at the time of the stabbing, her attorney, Bonnie Potter, said, according to the The Lexington Herald Chief and WKYT.

Joshua Crowe, a detective with the Lexington Police Department, testified in May 2022 that witnesses called police to the crime scene after James confessed to stabbing and killing his two children, The Lexington Herald Chief and Fox 56 has already reported.

“Several witnesses reported a woman covered in blood knocking on doors and telling people to kill their children and commit suicide,” Crowe said, according to Fox 56. “… [They] “I witnessed James say she told them she had killed her children and began directing the officers to her apartment.”

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Crowe added that another witness had a “prior personal relationship” with James and that she “told him she had killed his children.”

James also had knife wounds at the scene of the incident.

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James' lawyer, Potter, said The Lexington Herald Chief After accepting her plea in early June, “she is heartbroken over the loss of her children, but is happy that the criminal charges have been resolved.”

PEOPLE has reached out to the Lexington Police Department for additional comment.

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