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Steven Spalnick, who spent 344 days behind bars before his trial, must undergo counseling for alternatives to domestic violence counseling, Superior Court Judge James J. Guida ruled.
Guida said he was horrified by Spalnick’s crimes.
“The victim’s testimony was chilling,” the judge said.
FILE PHOTOS (Mary K. Miraglia)
Spalnicks’ ex-wife was in the courtroom but didn’t speak. Rather, a letter she wrote was read by Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jessica Gomperts.
In the letter, the woman said she “wish[es] him the best” and “isn’t angry or vindictive because this was a man [she] once loved and trusted.”
Gomperts, however, said: “I’m not as forgiving. In fact, I am enraged by this defendant and his crime.
“His wife wasn’t the only victim,” Gomperts said. “The police and firemen on the scene were victims, too.”
During the prolonged assault, prosecutors said, Spalnick removed doorknobs and hinges from three separate doors to get at the petite woman — all in the presence of their 5-month old son. She sustained a concussion, a broken nose, and black eyes, among other injuries before locking herself and her baby in a bathroom, they said.
Both were rescued out a third-story bathroom window by firefighters using a 30-foot ladder.
A jury last month cleared Spalnick of the most serious charges against him — aggravated assault, two weapons possession charges and resisting arrest — but found guilty of four other counts that led to today’s sentence. The jury also cleared Spalnick of attempted infliction of serious bodily injury and endangering the welfare of his son.
Spalnick — who lives in Pennsylvania with his parents — testified during the week-long trial that he remembered almost nothing from the night of the incident beyond what he said was spending a congenial evening with his wife after she returned from a Christmas get-together with her sister.
He said he also recalled her moving the baby out of harm’s way, and asking police to “get my wife and child out of here.”
Spalnick didn’t dispute that he committed the assaults, or that he told police he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, brandishing two 10-inch kitchen knives and then barricading himself in a bedroom.
STORY/PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia
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