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The prosecution of a Joplin woman accused of stabbing her father in the throat and choking her grandmother is being deferred for a year while she is treated for substance abuse.
Jennifer M. Nelums, 28, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Jasper County Circuit Court on charges of first-degree domestic assault, second-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action.
The Jasper County prosecutor’s office instead agreed to defer prosecution for a year if the defendant enters a substance-abuse program.
Joplin police say Nelums got into a fight with her father, Kenneth C. Nelums, 52, on Aug. 25 at a home on South Murphy Avenue and stabbed him in the throat with a knife. She also allegedly choked her grandmother and struck her with a chair.