An Atlantic City woman who claims she stabbed her boyfriend after years of abuse was released from jail Monday.
But Jodi Altman cannot go back to her Vermont Avenue home, where the alleged victim lives.
"I'm gonna be on the street," the woman tearfully told the judge. "That's my apartment."
Altman explained that she signed one-year leases for the apartment — which she qualifies for through assistance — the past two Februaries.
While the judge said she understood, the charges and fact that the victim lives in the home bar Altman from returning at the moment.
Altman, 60, is charged with third-degree counts of terroristic threats and weapon possession, and fourth-degree aggravated assault.
She and her partner were moving furniture in her apartment when they got into a fight and he took his laptop, according to the affidavit. Altman then went into the kitchen and got a knife.
The victim was stabbed in the left shoulder.
"A 60-year-old woman with no criminal record does not commit an act like this in a vacuum," public defender Lauren Musarra told the judge after meeting privately with her client.
She said Altman told her of a six-year relationship that was filled with physical and verbal abuse. Altman estimated police were called about 30 times.
The jail psychiatrist diagnosed Altman with post-traumatic stress disorder for which she is now on medication, her attorney told the judge.
Altman wept during the hearing, as she tried to convince the judge to let her go back to her home.
"You’re not going to be permitted at this time to go back to the Vermont Avenue address," Judge Nancy Ridgway explained. "There may be some modification going forward but today you are ordered not to have contact with him and not to go to that location."
The judge did indicate that the circumstances could change as far as the victim living there, and if so, she wanted any motion to modify her order heard as soon as possible.
"I’m sorry about this and I know that this happens some times," she told Altman. "But we need to sort these charges out."
Musarra said she would have her office's social worker help Altman.
