Lee

A district court judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation Friday for the 41-year-old Minot woman who is accused of stabbing her mother on Wednesday after her mother tried to stop her from strangling the family cat.

Angela Kay Lee is charged with aggravated assault, a Class C felony that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

She wore an anti-suicide smock when she made an appearance before Judge Gary Lee in court on Friday. Judge Lee and Angela Lee are not related.

According to Angela Lee’s defense lawyer, Raissa Carpenter, Angela Lee receives Social Security disability payments because of her mental health issues. Angela Lee is also on medications that she has not been receiving while she is in the Ward County Jail.

Carpenter said Angela Lee has lived in Minot all her life and that her parents and two daughters also live here, so she is not a flight risk. Angela Lee had asked to be released on a personal recognizance bond or to be allowed to post 10 percent of a $1,000 bond because her Social Security disability check is her sole source of income. Carpenter said Angela Lee has no criminal history except for a parking ticket.

Judge Lee set bond on Friday at $5,000 cash or corporate surety, ordered the psych evaluation and said he will sign an order drafted by Carpenter that tells the jail which prescribed medications to give Angela Lee. Judge Lee also ordered Angela Lee to have no contact with her mother and to stay away from her mother’s residence if she is released on bond. He set a preliminary hearing in the case for Jan. 5.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Lee’s mother called police on Wednesday to report that her daughter was strangling the cat. When police arrived at the apartment building in the 1900 block of Hiawatha Street, Lee’s mother was laying on the snow outside the doorway to her apartment with a stab wound to her stomach. Police entered the apartment and found Lee standing in the family room holding the knife. Police ordered her several times to drop the knife and she finally complied. They ordered her to get on the ground and she did not immediately comply. Police grabbed her by the arm, lowered her to the floor and handcuffed her.

Lee’s mother told police that she and her daughter were arguing and her daughter grabbed one of the cats and started to choke it. Her mother asked Lee to let the cat go, but Lee continued to hurt the animal. The cat’s tongue was hanging out of its mouth. Lee’s mother told police that her daughter finally let go of the cat but then came after her with a knife. She stabbed her mother once and her mother fell backwards into the snow outside the apartment.

Lee’s mother was taken to Trinity Hospital for treatment. Her injury appears to be non-life-threatening, according to police.