LOCKPORT. N.Y. -- It was an emotional day for 28-year-old Jennifer Marchant. She's spent the last three years at Bedford Hills Correctional facility in Westchester County, after a jury found her guilty of first degree manslaughter.
Wednesday morning Marchant walked into a Niagara County courtroom that was filled with her family and friends. After the hearing there, she was taken to the Niagara County Jail where she was released. Marchant’s trials began in February of 2013.
That’s when she and her boyfriend Ralph Stone Jr. got into a verbal argument and it turned deadly. Marchant admitted she stabbed Stone in the chest with a kitchen knife, but said it was in self-defense.
Recently, the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court found the jury was wrong and convicting Marchant of first degree manslaughter, saying there was not enough evidence to prove she did not act in self-defense.
Marchant's mother Kimberly Fenzel says she is proud of her daughter for writing her own appeal and being successful in getting her conviction overturned. Fenzel says the family never gave up hope that Marchant would get out before her 12 year sentence was up.
"She said she was going to get out for her family and she did,” Fenzel said. “Never give up hope, never give up hope because it can happen, which it has."
Marchant’s attorney says her slate has been wiped clean and in order for her to appear before a judge again, the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office would have to seek permission from the court of appeals to appeal this ruling.
Niagara County District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek says they have 30 days to decide whether or not to make an application to the Court of Appeals and the office will continue to weigh its options.
As for the future, Fenzel says Marchant will resume college and pick life up where it left off before she was sent behind bars.