A 29-year-old woman was charged with murder this morning for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death in her home on Friday, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced.

CHERRY CLINTON (2/28/82) was arraigned today in Dorchester District Court on a murder charge stemming from the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Lancelot Reid of Dorchester in the Franklin Field housing development apartment where she lives. Judge Kenneth Desmond ordered that Clinton be held without bail.

Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, a former domestic violence prosecutor now assigned to the DA’s Homicide Unit, told the court that Boston Police officers responded to the scene shortly after receiving a 911 call. Upon arrival, officers spoke to Clinton, who allegedly admitted to police that she stabbed Reid; the victim was later pronounced dead from a stab wound to the chest.

In a post-Miranda statement to police detectives, Polumbaum said, Clinton allegedly said that Reid had assaulted her earlier in the day, and that she grabbed a knife to protect herself when he returned to the apartment. She allegedly stated that Reid “ran into” the knife that she held in her hand.

Polumbaum said that Clinton’s version of events contradicted preliminary evidence, including the apparent force used to plunge a knife blade through several layers of the victim’s clothing and into his heart. Polumbaum told the court that prosecutors intend to investigate fully the circumstances of the victim’s death in the grand jury.

Conley urged victims of any crime, including intimate partner violence, to call 911 in an emergency. SafeLink, a statewide domestic violence hotline, can be reached at 877-785-2020. SafeLink is answered by trained advocates 24 hours a day in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as TTY at 877-521-2601. It also has the capacity to provide multilingual translation in more than 140 languages.

Clinton was represented by attorney John Cunha. She is expected to return to court on March 31.