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Orange County Man Sentenced For Brutal Emergency Housing Employee Murder

An Orange County man has been sentenced to 21 years to life in prison in connection with the stabbing death of an employee at an emergency housing facility.

Wilfredo Mercado

Wilfredo Mercado

Photo Credit: Orange County District Attorney's Office

Wilfredo Mercado, 53, of Newburgh, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown on Thursday, Feb. 21, for the May 2017, stabbing death the man inside a temporary emergency housing facility in the City of Newburgh, said the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Mercado pleaded guilty in September 2018, to murder in the second degree. At the time that he pleaded guilty, Mercado admitted that at approximately 11:15 p.m., on May 23, 2017, he killed the employee inside the temporary emergency housing facility located at 44 Grand St., by repeatedly stabbing him in the torso, the DA's Office said.

Prosecutors had argued that that in addition to stabbing the victim, Mercado had repeatedly bludgeoned him and strangled the victim with his own belt.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Newburgh Police Department for their investigation and the arrest of Mercado, as well as the New York State Police Major Crimes Unit who assisted in the investigation.

“This defendant clearly deserves the more than two-decade-long state prison sentence he will serve for this particularly violent murder of a man who worked to help those who required assistance,” said District Attorney David Hoovler. “Those who kill by committing senseless violent acts deserve lengthy prison sentences, whether or not they used a firearm.”

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