DUBLIN — A Pleasanton woman has been released from jail while her murder case is pending, after a judge set her bail at $100,000, court records show.
Kennedy Stith, 28, was charged in September 2024 with fatally stabbing 32-year-old Edevion White, a crime she allegedly attempted to cover up by inventing a story about murderous home invasion robbers, according to court records. Stith spent nearly a jail in jail until last August, after Judge Brian Caruth set bail at a July court hearing.
Caruth ordered Stith to reside at a transitional housing center and obey all laws while out of custody, according to a transcript of the bail hearing.
“Given her conduct with regards to efforts at rehabilitation, the court is inclined to believe Ms. Stith is not particularly prone to continue to engage in violent conduct if released from custody. However, the gravity of the offense is one the court cannot fail to recognize,” Caruth said at the hearing.
Deputy District Attorney Zafir Shaiq, who represents Stith, argued that Caruth should look at the 16 months between White’s May 1, 2023 killing and Stith’s eventual arrest in 2024, citing a probation officer’s assessment that Stith was “amazing” during this time.
“This isn’t a situation where Ms. Stith just managed to keep her nose clean for 16 months while this case was pending, she thrived. She excelled,” Shaiq said. “She was given resources that she didn’t previously have access to. Took full advantage of them and wasn’t just skating by.”
Deputy District Attorney Nick Homer objected to Stith’s release, arguing that the violent nature of the attack — as well as the alleged cover up — paint a picture of a woman who would endanger the public while out of jail.
“There’s no less restrictive means other than incarceration that can ensure that this trial proceeds faily because, as we know, domestic violence occurs in the home in private,” Homer said in court. “There’s no ankle monitor. There’s no search clause that can ensure that she will not commit further acts of domestic violence that she has shown she’s willing to do because it’s a crime that occurs in the home.”
Shaiq countered that Stith was “freaking out” after stabbing her boyfriend, and said she initially admitted to it on one 911 call before calling a second time and concocting a story about robbers killing Stith.
“She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to be honest,” Shaiq said.
Stith allegedly told investigators that two robbers had burst into the home, one with a gun. She said one of the men held her at gunpoint in the kitchen while the other fought Stith in another part of the household and stabbed him once in the chest. The robbers then fled the apartment, she reportedly claimed.
White warned family members that Stith would eventually harm him, according to police.