Salters
GOSHEN – A Highland Falls man was sentenced on Thursday in Orange County Court to 18 years to life in state prison for stabbing his wife to death. Leonard Salters, 52, killed Junco Salters, 62, on June 20, 2014.
District Attorney David Hoovler said it was a senseless murder.
“The case is a brutal murder that epitomizes domestic violence and the fact that domestic violence can escalate over time,” he said. “I believe the defendant in this case deserves every day of the prison sentence that he received and we will do everything in our power to ensure that the parole board understands the level of violence that this defendant used in this particular case.”
Hoovler’s office had sought a sentence of 20 years to life.
Salters pled guilty in August 2015 to murder for stabbing his wife in their Highlands Falls apartment. He stabbed her four times in the torso and stomach during an argument. Salters then ran out of the apartment with bloodied clothing, ran to his car and fled.
He was apprehended in Irvington, New Jersey after his car struck a cement barrier along the Garden State Parkway.
After he was indicted for murder and possessing the knife he used to kill his wife, he was returned to Orange County to face the charges.
“This senseless and brutal murder epitomizes the horrors to which domestic violence can escalate,” said Hoovler. “This defendant deserves every day of the prison sentence which he received and my office will do everything we can to ensure that the parole board understands the wanton violence of this defendant’s actions when they are deciding when he should be released on parole.”
The DA urged all victims of domestic violence to seek out the services that are available, including Safe Homes of Orange County.
