Keshia Golden was eight months pregnant and at her own baby shower when her boyfriend allegedly grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into a kitchen counter. She grabbed a knife. Now she is facing a first-degree murder charge.

According to ABC 7 Chicago, Golden's supporters rallied outside Daley Plaza in Chicago on Monday, demanding Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke drop all charges before the case goes to trial. Her public defenders say the October 2022 stabbing death of Calvin Sidney was an act of self-defense — that Golden grabbed a knife after Sidney attacked her, striking him in the leg and severing his femoral artery.

Golden called police at least 50 times to report abuse over the course of her relationship with Sidney. In the four months before the killing, police responded to five documented incidents of domestic violence between the two, including one in which Sidney allegedly choked her while she was 18 weeks pregnant. "There's lots of documentation, and I wish there had been more intervention at those earlier stages," said Sierra Bartlett of the Cook County Public Defender's Office.

Her attorney, Julie Koehler, has been direct about what she believes the prosecution represents. "Keshia Golden has been sent the chilling, horrifying message that she did not have the legal right to defend herself," said Holly Krig of Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration. "That somehow her legal right was to die quietly in compliance with the law."

Rather than drop the charges, Cook County prosecutors offered a plea deal: plead to second-degree murder, receive two years of probation. Golden rejected it. The state then announced at a brief April 7 court hearing that it intends to take the case to trial. Cook County Judge Steven Watkins set the trial for August 17, per Block Club Chicago. The entire hearing lasted under 30 seconds.

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office told CBS News only that it "carefully evaluates the facts and the law to make appropriate charging decisions" and declined to comment on the case specifically.

Golden, who has been living at home with her daughter Ky'liyah for the past three years, has been required to check in with the court by phone every day since her release. Her defense team says they are confident she will be found not guilty if the case goes before a jury.