Woman Admits Killing Son Over Phone Bill

A Sepulveda woman has pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of her 18-year-old son during a quarrel over a $50 debt.

Sammie Lavern McGee, 38, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the May 14, 1988, slaying of her son, Bluefus Davis, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Plafker said. McGee entered her plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors during the second day of jury selection for her trial in Van Nuys Superior Court.

In exchange for her plea, the prosecution agreed to drop a more serious charge of murder, Plafker said.

Friends and family members told police that before the stabbing, McGee and Davis, an alleged gang member, had been arguing about a phone bill in the family’s apartment in the 14600 block of Parthenia Street. At one point, they said, McGee picked up a steak knife and stabbed Davis once in the chest after he refused to pay her the $50 he owed on the bill.

One witness, Aaron Shawn Brown, testified at a preliminary hearing that before the stabbing, McGee told her son “she brought him into the world, and she would take him out,” according to court documents.

“I tried to stop her,” Brown, 18, testified. “I told her: ‘Don’t do it. It’s your son.’ And she stabbed him anyway.”

McGee remains in custody in lieu of $100,000 bail and was ordered back to court on June 22 for sentencing. She faces a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.