A man under a civil commitment as being mentally ill and dangerous admitted in court Tuesday to fatally stabbing a woman in her St. Paul apartment in 2022 after believing she was his mother.

Appearing by Zoom from St. Peter Regional Treatment Center, Maurice Angelo McClinton Smith, 42, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder in the killing of 47-year-old Tina M. McCombs in the North End on Jan. 9, 2022.

Under questioning by his attorney John Riemer to establish a factual basis for the plea, Smith agreed that he had used methamphetamine and ecstasy and drank alcohol before going to McCombs’ apartment.

According to the criminal complaint, Smith and McCombs were Facebook friends, and Smith told police in an interview they met about a month earlier. The complaint was

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