Maine News Updates

PORTLAND — Laureen Rugen, a 50-year-old Portland woman who had been charged with murder in the stabbing death of her husband in March, pled guilty to manslaughter this morning as part of a plea agreement, police said.

Rugen admitted to stabbing her husband Chris Rugen, 61, with a butcher knife, but her lawyer J.P. DeGrinney says she killed her husband in self-defense after years of abuse, and after she was beaten that night.

Laureen Rugen entered her plea at Cumberland County Superior Court this morning.

Rugen’s sentence will be handed down at a future court date

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