A District woman has been found guilty of killing her boyfriend after she accused him of not paying enough attention to her at a wedding reception.

Dominique Bassil, 26, was found guilty by a D.C. jury of second-degree murder while armed Friday in the stabbing death of her boyfriend, Vance Harris II.

According to charging documents, on the evening of Aug. 12, 2011, Bassil complained that Harris, 28, a member of the wedding party, was not spending enough time with her.

At the end of the evening, Bassil berated Harris and pushed him in the face while he talked to others, documents said.

When another person suggested that Harris get a hotel room instead of going home with his girlfriend, Bassil struck her boyfriend.

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Later that night, Capitol Heights police found the couple on the side of a road. Bassil said they were arguing, and she was tired and wanted to go home, police said.

Police noticed that Harris' tuxedo had been torn, while Bassil didn't have any injuries and her clothes were intact. Neither complained of an assault, and police permitted them to go home.

At about 2:30 a.m., the couple arrived at Bassil's apartment on the 3900 block of 13th Street SE.

About 20 minutes later, Bassil was seen on surveillance video leaving her building wearing only a pink night cap and panties and carrying a knife. The footage captured her throwing the 12-inch stainless-steel knife in a trash can before going to the security guard booth to report that she stabbed her boyfriend because he was beating her.

Seconds after Bassil left her building, surveillance video showed Harris leaving out the front door holding a stab wound to his arm dripping with blood.

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Harris knocked on a neighbor's door for help and fell unconscious in the hallway, where he died.

Medical examiners said the cause of death was a knife cut into the main artery in Harris' leg. He also suffered a stab wound to the abdomen that penetrated the liver.

Bassil alleged that her boyfriend had pulled her hair, pushed her to the ground and dragged her, but police and medical personnel found no visible injuries.

smccabe@washingtonexaminer.com