Thelma Lou Carter, 47, will also serve two years’ probation for her actions, which led to the death of Robert Frank Higdon, 58, on July 31, 2011, at Augusta Mobile Home Estates in the 2500 block of Milledgeville Road.

The sentencing hearing before Superior Court Judge Carlisle Overstreet revealed several new facts about the case, including that it was a wide-heeled sole, not a stiletto heel as previously reported, that was used for the fatal blow.

Assistant District Attorney Rex Myers said Carter’s blow was the culmination of a fight between the couple over Higdon’s abuse of a puppy.

During the fight, Higdon punched Carter in the chest and extinguished a cigarette on her leg, Myers said.

Carter responded by hitting Higdon once in the head with a shoe. Myers said that the blow would not normally be fatal, but Higdon had heart problems that contributed to his death.

A medical examiner determined that Higdon died of blunt-force trauma.

Myers said a malice murder charge was dropped as part of the plea deal because there was no intention to kill.

On the felony murder charge, there was a legal question as to whether a shoe constituted a deadly weapon, he said.

A tearful Carter apologized for her actions, saying she wished she could take it back.

Public defender Kate Mason said Carter “is taking responsibility for a really bad series of events in a bad time of her life.”