Domestic Abuse Survivor Pleads Guilty To 'Heat-Of-Passion' Killing In Maple Grove

ST. PAUL, MN — A Maple Grove woman whose murder conviction was vacated after an appeals court reversal has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in the shooting death of her boyfriend, Donjuan Butler, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Stephanie Louise Clark, 35, pleaded guilty Oct. 16 to first-degree manslaughter for intentionally causing Butler’s death "in the heat of passion" during an altercation at the couple’s Maple Grove apartment on March 5, 2020.

The plea follows a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision that overturned Clark’s 2022 second-degree murder conviction, originally entered by Judge Peter A. Cahill.

The conviction was vacated in March, and the case was reassigned to Judge Sarah S. West, who accepted Clark’s plea this month.

Prosecutors said Clark suffered intimate partner violence at Butler’s hands before the shooting.

"This was an extraordinarily complicated case with intimate partner violence at its core," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. "While Ms. Clark’s actions exceeded what the law allows for self-defense, she had just been violently assaulted and threatened by Mr. Butler."

Under the plea deal, Clark will be barred from possessing firearms and faces a prison term of 74 to 103 months. Her sentence will be decided at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 5, 2026.

According to the criminal complaint, Maple Grove police responded to Clark’s apartment after a neighbor reported gunshots. Clark appeared at the neighbor’s door crying and said, "He’s dead. I shot him because he hit me."

Officers found Butler dead in the bedroom from multiple gunshot wounds and recovered five firearms from the scene.