Cleveland - New Mayor Admits She Committed Murder

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New Mayor Says She Killed Man 22-Years Ago
Woman Says It Was In Self Defense

EAST CLEVELAND -- The new mayor of East Cleveland has acknowledged she killed a man 22 years ago but says she acted in self-defense.

Saratha Goggins said that she stabbed O'Neal Price, 48, to death in 1982.

Her disclosure came after The Plain Dealer obtained a certified copy of a coroner's report that says she admitted stabbing Price during a fight in the kitchen of his home on Sept. 30, 1982.

She would not discuss specifics of the slaying but said she acted in self-defense, the newspaper said.

"It was an unfortunate incident that occurred in a time of my life," Goggins said. "There is nothing I can do to change it. I have moved on. I am going to survive it."

The late Cuyahoga County Coroner Sam Gerber ruled that Price, a divorced father of three, died from a single stab wound to the heart. His report said Goggins identified Price as her boyfriend.

Rumors about Goggins' past reached a peak this month, when she replaced Emmanuel Onunwor as mayor after Onunwor's conviction on corruption charges, The Plain Dealer said.

Goggins was married at the time and not involved in politics. A story in The Plain Dealer did not identify Goggins by name, reporting only that police arrested a 31-year-old East Cleveland woman who was screaming as she tried to get into a parked car.

Court records available for public inspection contain no mention of Goggins being prosecuted. Goggins told the newspaper she petitioned a judge to seal the records in September 1991. She recalled being convicted but said she could not remember the charge. She declined to say whether she was jailed or otherwise punished.

Copies of restitution checks, provided by the Price family, contain references to voluntary manslaughter. Relatives said the checks were to cover burial expenses.