Tamarac woman gets three years probation for demanding divorce with knife

Tonya Alanez

Sun Sentinel

5:27 p.m. EDT, June 1, 2011

A Tamarac woman who held a steak knife to her husband's throat and demanded he sign divorce papers and the deed to their house was sentenced to three years probation Wednesday.

Prosecutors dropped an attempted murder charge, and Tamara Strulovici, 53, pleaded no contest to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

In May 2009, Strulovici approached her husband from behind, put the steak knife to his throat, made her demands and slashed the fingers on his left hand, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.

In court Wednesday, Strulovici said through a Russian interpreter that she is "not sure" if she and her husband, James Little, are still legally married.

"I heard the rumors that he did apply for divorce," Strulovici said. "I don't do that because I don't have any money."

Married or not, Broward Circuit Judge Sandra Perlman ordered that Strulovici have no contact with Little.

Strulovici's lawyer said she has no problem with that aspect of her sentence.

"He lives out of state and she has no interest of ever having contact with him," Strulovici's defense attorney, Frank Prieto, said.