BOSTON, March 18, 2015—The woman charged with stabbing 73-year-old Winston Fields to death in his Roxbury apartment pleaded guilty today as her trial was scheduled to begin, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

ANGELIEA BROWN (D.O.B. 8/15/80) of Dorchester pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Fields’ August 2013 homicide. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse indicated he would adopt prosecutors’ recommendation of a 15- to 18-year state prison sentence at a hearing scheduled for next week.

With a jury empanelled and ready to hear evidence, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Hickman was prepared to introduce testimony showing that Brown used drugs with Fields for a period of time leading up to a fatal conflict in which she stabbed him 10 times, including once in the neck, then left him to die in his Washington Street home.

The evidence would have shown that Fields brought Brown to his elder housing apartment on the night of Aug. 8, 2013. A man with relatives also living in the building was also present in the apartment. He was expected to testify that he saw the two together and that he heard them arguing over money. At about 4:15 pm on Aug. 9, the evidence would have shown, Brown left the apartment and saw the witness, whom she asked about obtaining drugs.

Fields was found dead in his home on Aug. 14. By that time, the evidence would have shown, Brown was arrested on drug charges after setting off an alarm at the Madison Park and O’Bryant high schools. There was blood on items inside her purse. DNA testing by Boston Police criminalists revealed that it was Fields’ blood.

Brown had been indicted for first-degree murder. In accepting her plea to the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter, prosecutors considered the challenges they would have faced at trial, including potential defense motions bringing Brown’s criminal history to the jury’s attention and a likely self-defense claim. They also considered the number of injuries to the victim, the defendant’s flight from the apartment without calling for medical help, and inculpatory statements she allegedly made to others in the aftermath of the homicide.

Timothy Munzert is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Brown was represented by attorney James Budreau. Sentencing is scheduled for March 24.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.