Ariel Colon Jr. must spend at least nine years behind state prison bars for slashing a woman’s throat in August 2014 in Pottsville, a Schuylkill County judge ruled Thursday.
“It was a really dangerous thing to do,” President Judge William E. Baldwin told Colon, 35, of Pottsville, before sentencing him to serve nine to 20 years in a state correctional institution.
Baldwin, who presided over Colon’s two-day trial, also sentenced him to pay costs and $2,199.85 restitution, and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
“The commonwealth believes the sentence was appropriate,” Assistant District Attorney Robert I. Lipkin said after Thursday’s hearing.
After deliberating approximately two hours, the jury of seven men and five women found Colon guilty on Feb. 10 of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and simple assault and not guilty of attempted murder and possessing instrument of crime.
Pottsville police had charged Colon, who did not testify at this trial, with slashing Kelly Krasnitsky in the neck with a sharp object in the early morning hours of Aug. 23, 2014, in a van in the city.
Police alleged Krasnitsky was sitting in the front passenger seat of the van when Colon leaned over from the seat behind her, said, “I have something for you, Kelly” and slashed her.
Prosecutors said Krasnitsky had never met Colon before that night, and Lipkin emphasized the random nature of the crime in asking for a harsh sentence.
“This was just a particularly heinous crime. This was a near-death experience,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine anything much more shocking.”
Colon said nothing during the hearing, which he sat through while wearing handcuffs and a prison jumpsuit. However, his sister, Alicia Solomon, testified he is a good person and a good brother.
“He was a positive influence ... on my children,” she said. “He was someone I trusted with my children. I could depend on him.”
Colon’s girlfriend, Kathryn Newmoyer, does not understand how the jury convicted him.
“This case is definitely a puzzle,” she testified. “I know Ariel and I know the man he is. Please review all the facts.”
Baldwin, however, said the jury decided the facts of the case, Krasnitsky has a scar as a result of the incident and Colon does not have a clean past.
“You have a pretty long record,” including drug-related crimes and an assault, Baldwin told the defendant.
After the hearing, Assistant Public Defender Andrea L. Thompson, Colon’s lawyer, said she would file an appeal for her client but otherwise declined to discuss the case.
Lipkin said Colon got what he deserved, especially in light of the random nature of the crime and the effect it has had on Krasnitsky.
“She had no idea who he was,” Lipkin said. “How do you ever have a sense of security again?”
Defendant: Ariel Colon Jr.
Age: 35
Residence: Pottsville
Crimes committed: Aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and simple assault
Prison sentence: Nine to 20 years in a state correctional institution