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Lubbock resident LaSherria Hastings, 33, pleaded guilty on September 12, 2022, to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury to a family member in the fatal stabbing of her separated husband and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Hastings, whose first name has also been spelled Lasherria, was 28 when Randale Roshawn Stewart, also referred to as Randale "Ray" Stewart, was stabbed early on August 20, 2017. Stewart was 38. They were legally married but separated, Stewart had a girlfriend, and they had been out in a group earlier that night.

Lubbock police responded to a civil disturbance or fight call at about 5:50 to 5:51 a.m. outside a residence in the 5800 block of Avenue G in central Lubbock. Officers found Stewart with a stab wound to his upper left chest. He was taken to University Medical Center and pronounced dead, with the stab wound confirmed as the cause of death.

According to police and court accounts, Hastings confronted Stewart after he went to his car, stabbed him during an argument and ran away. Stewart's girlfriend reported hearing men arguing outside, becoming concerned when Stewart did not answer his phone, and seeing people gathered near the vehicle as Hastings fled. No extensive premeditation or post-act concealment was reported, and no video of the stabbing or other major digital evidence was publicly highlighted.

Hastings later cooperated with investigators at the Lubbock Police Department. She was arrested at about 3:45 p.m. that afternoon, charged with murder and later indicted on that charge. Public accounts reported no major contradictions involving physical evidence.

The defense maintained that Hastings had a strong self-defense case and said Stewart was a different person when using drugs or alcohol. Stewart's family disputed the self-defense claim and maintained that he was the victim of family violence. No other specific long-term motive was publicly detailed beyond the confrontation between the separated spouses.

Hastings was held for more than three years before being released on bond in December 2020, and she remained free on bond until her plea. After years of delays, she accepted the reduced first-degree felony charge rather than risk a jury trial, with the defense citing the unpredictability of juries. District Judge William Eichman handled the case in Lubbock's 364th District Court. Hastings must serve half of her sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Stewart's family gave impact statements and called the 10-year sentence an injustice after the long wait, while the defense highlighted Hastings' law-abiding behavior on bond and her faith. There were no other defendants.

The video is a police interview-room recording running about 51 minutes. It presents the interview itself without narration or a presenter.