PEBBLZ DA MODEL
To hear Natasha Stewart tell it, she was just trying to help an insecure woman when she helped arrange for her to get silicone injections in her buttocks.
Stewart was found guilty Friday in the death of 37-year-old Karima Gordon.
Gordon died from silicone embolism in her lungs about a week after getting the shots.
Tracey Lynn Garner, the one suspected of administering the injections, is charged with depraved-heart murder in the deaths of Gordon and another woman. She has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is scheduled for March.
Stewart, an adult entertainer also known as Pebbelz Da Model, took $200 for a referral to the alleged injector and falsely represented that the injector was a nurse.
Emails introduced Friday in Stewart's case showed that Gordon was a fan of Stewart and was asking for help to get buttocks injections.
"I won't give up my mission to ultimately achieve a tastefully great butt enhancement," Gordon wrote.
Gordon's friend, Anglean Barber, testified that she and Gordon flew to New York to meet Stewart and that Stewart referred them to Garner.
Barber said she and Gordon wanted the same kind of buttocks enhancement that Stewart had gotten with hopes of becoming models in the hip-hop industry.
Barber said she and Gordon drove to Garner's house in Jackson on March 16, 2012, and both planned to get the injections.
Barber said she was unsettled by the appearance of Garner, who was a man before having gender reassignment surgery, and decided not to get the injections. Barber said Gordon got sick immediately after getting the shots.
Stewart had been charged with "depraved-heart" murder, defined as a "callous disregard for human life" resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. She also had been charged with conspiracy to commit depraved-heart murder.
Jurors decided to go with the option they had been given to convict Stewart of the lesser charge. They also found her guilty of conspiracy to commit culpable negligence manslaughter.
She faces up to 20 years in prison for each charge.
Stewart, wearing what appeared to be an orange wig, showed little emotion after the verdict was read.
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/01/4791050/manslaughter-verdict-in-buttocks.html#storylink=cpy