BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A Brooklyn Park man pleaded guilty Thursday to stabbing his wife to death with a butchers knife after learning she was having an affair and leaving him.

Soman Thamby, 51, entered a last-minute guilty plea to second-degree murder before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Philip Caroom for repeatedly stabbing Lesa Thamby 35, during an argument at their Ballman Court town house in May 2007 while their three young children were home. Defense attorney Warren Brown said Thamby entered the plea to avoid getting a life sentence for first-degree murder.

He said Thamby had not premeditated the murder, and his wife pulled the knife first.

“We knew it would be an uphill climb to prove to a jury that he was acting in self-defense,” Brown said.

Prosecutors are recommending the maximum 30-year prison sentence at the July 7 sentencing.

Thamby was enraged when he discovered Lesa Thamby was having an affair with her high school friend and neighbor Howard “Cowboy” Jones, according to prosecutors.

As the murder was recounted in court, Lesa Thamby’s family members cried and passed around tissues.

Thamby, wearing a crisp white shirt, removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

Prosecutors said Lesa Thamby called her mother, Maybelle Lawhorn, 70, on the night of May 5, 2007, and told her she was leaving her husband and taking their sons, ages 10 and 5 at the time of incident, and daughter, 2.

Lawhorn, who lived across the yard, became alarmed when she looked out her window later that evening and saw Thamby pull his wife back into the house as she tried to escape.

Lawhorn ran to the house and banged on the storm door, but Thamby locked the door and removed the key, prosecutors said. 

He later called 911 and told the operator he’d stabbed his wife during an argument.

Anne Arundel police found in the kitchen “a very bloody scene, and Lesa crumpled in the

corner,” said prosecutor Brooke McKay.

According to prosecutors, Thamby told police, “I knew that she was cheating on me, and I caught her [with a man] in my kitchen a few weeks ago.”

“We were arguing tonight, and she didn’t think I was serious ... I hurt her real bad.”

Police found a bloody 15-inch knife in the trash can and a letter written by Lesa Thamby saying she was leaving her husband.

cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com