Marci Deshayna Cully, 27, of Lawrence, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of Wayne Francisco on Dec. 25, 2013.

A 27-year-old Lawrence woman pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter Friday in the stabbing death of her boyfriend on Christmas morning 2013.

Marci D. Cully will be sentenced Aug. 8 in the death of Wayne Francisco, 33, of Lawrence. Cully had entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in March, then pleaded no contest to the lesser charge Friday.

Cully has been in jail since her arrest following Francisco’s death at his apartment at 4300 W. 24th Place.

Cully’s attorney, Courtney Henderson, could not be reached for comment.

According to testimony at a hearing in February, Cully told investigators that Francisco had been drinking throughout the night — the coroner testified that he had a blood-alcohol level of .341 — and that the two called each other names before the dispute became physical. Cully told them that she stabbed Francisco after he threw a chair at her and attempted to swing it at her again.

Cully recorded the cellphone video as she lay on a couch in Francisco’s apartment in the moments before the stabbing.

In the video, Francisco is speaking unintelligibly at first while making signs with his hands. Their conversation becomes hostile, each calling each other names, and Cully yells at Francisco to go to bed and sober up. Several minutes pass before Francisco insults Cully’s family, gets up and walks over to Cully. The video blurs with motion after a crash. A wooden chair briefly comes into view as Cully walks into a dark kitchen. There, the rattling of silverware is audible before Francisco reappears, stepping back as the video ends.

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said the prosecution offered the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter because the nature of the crime better fit that offense.

“For voluntary manslaughter, you have to prove death occured during a fight or argument, and that’s exactly what happened,” Branson said.