An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge found a Brighton Heights woman guilty but mentally ill on Monday for fatally stabbing her husband in December 2020 and wrapping his corpse in garbage bags and duct tape.
Janet L. Winbush, 53, a North Side resident who grew up in Grove City, Mercer County, faced charges of criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse. But District Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski issued his verdict as guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Winbush was also found guilty but mentally ill on the corpse-abuse charge.
Winbush’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 18.
Wendy Williams, an attorney for Winbush, said during trial that her client had a long, well-documented history of mental illness when she fatally stabbed her husband in self-defense in 2020 after years of domestic abuse.
Prosecutors argued that Winbush planned to kill Deric Bryan Davis, 53, and then intentionally hid his body from police — to whom she never reported the stabbing or Davis’ death.
Winbush testified she and Davis fought and hit each other for four to six hours on Dec. 7, 2020, starting around 2 a.m. Davis’ family, who attended each day of the trial, maintained that domestic abuse never happened.
During the fight, Winbush said Davis grabbed a steak knife and threatened to kill her. She said she kicked him, grabbed the knife and stabbed him once in the chest in self-defense. She said they continued arguing for about an hour.
Davis left the couple’s duplex after the fight. Winbush said she found him dead the next day at the bottom of the house’s steps.
Winbush — who has bipolar disorder and depression and has been hospitalized multiple times for her mental health — went into what an expert called a “traumatic haze” and has no memory of hiding her husband’s body.
Assistant District Attorney Grant Olson, in contrast, said Winbush saw photos of “a half-naked woman” on Davis’ cellphone and believed he was cheating on her. Davis maintained a separate apartment in Wilkinsburg, where he often would spend weekends.
Olson also questioned reports of Davis’ violence. He painted Davis as “a good man” who was “a great provider” for Winbush and their daughter, a Temple University graduate who is now 23.
Winbush has been held in Allegheny County Jail since March 2021.
