A 20-year-old Cleveland woman told police she stabbed a man to death in self defense early Wednesday after he broke into her home.

Lakesha Mitchell told police she confronted Preston Donaldson on the porch of her house on East 108th Street. She said he tried to throw her over the railing, but she was able run into her home, police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

Donaldson, 25, of Cleveland, punched through the window screen and unlocked the door. Then, he began to punch Mitchell, Stacho said.

She grabbed a large kitchen knife.

"Every time he punched me, I stabbed him," Mitchell told police.

Donaldson ran from the home with Frank Evans, 30, of Cleveland, who was with him at the time of the break in. Evans drove Donaldson to St. Vincent Charity Hospital's emergency room where he told police that Donaldson had been injured trying to break into a home. He didn't say anything about a stabbing, police said.

But doctors recognized that Donaldson's injuries were stab wounds and contacted police.

Donaldson died at the hospital.

Evans told police that he and Donaldson had been trying to rob a house on East 108th Street when his friend suffered the injuries. When police went to the house, Mitchell told them she stabbed Donaldson in self-defense.

She did not called police to report the stabbing or the break-in.

Police held her in custody while they investigated the killing. Mitchell does not have a criminal history, according to Cuyahoga County records.

Evans and Donaldson, however, both have criminal records. Evans has two convictions for theft offenses -- one from 1995 and another from 2002 -- and was placed on probation both times.

Donaldson was placed on probation after convictions in 2000 for receiving stolen property and failure to comply and in 2003 for drug trafficking.

He was to appear in court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing in a 2006 case out of Cleveland in which he is charged with obstruction