A 22-year-old woman has been given a 10-year term for fatally stabbing her live-in boyfriend in the back as she chased him on a St. Paul street after dark last year.

Kayla J. Pope, 22, of St. Paul, was sentenced Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the Sept. 13 death of Eric T. Brown, 23, of Minneapolis.

With credit for time in jail since her arrest, Pope is expected to serve slightly less than 6 1⁄2 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police found Brown in the street at White Bear Avenue and E. 7th Street. Paramedics took him to Regions Hospital, where he died that night.

Witnesses told police they saw Pope chasing Brown in the middle of traffic. Another saw Brown running across the street and yelling for help before collapsing.

Surveillance video from a tire shop showed Brown sprinting into traffic and Pope running after him. Pope caught Brown in the middle of the street and they collided, sending Brown to the pavement.

Pope told police she was in an abusive relationship with Brown. Earlier that evening, she said, Brown threw a toy that hit her in the head and left her with a bruise. Police were called, and Pope denied anything troubling had occurred.

Brown got mad at Pope for speaking to police, she said, and began assaulting her and tried to cut her neck with a knife before he fled the apartment. She said she grabbed a steak knife and chased after Brown, who had on a backpack.

"As Pope tried to stab the backpack," the complaint read, spelling out her account, Brown "turned, causing the backpack to swing. Pope's knife went directly into [Brown's] back."