Orange County News
 For Immediate Release                                Contact: Christopher Borek
 Monday, March 29, 2021                        845.291.3276, 845.238.4245c

District Attorney Hoovler Announces State Prison Sentence 

in Middletown Stabbing Case

Twenty-Year-Old Woman Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Stabbing 

Seventeen-Year-Old Man Outside of Her House

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, March 29, 2021 Chelsea Johnson, 20, of Middletown, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Hyun Chin Kim to eighteen years in state prison, and three years post-release supervision, in connection with the fatal stabbing of a seventeen-year-old man outside of Johnson’s Middletown residence. On November 16, 2020, Johnson pled guilty before Orange County Court Judge William L. DeProspo to Manslaughter in the First Degree. The District Attorney’s Office had recommended a sentence of twenty-two years in state prison.

On January 21, 2020, the victim accompanied Johnson’s former boyfriend to her residence on Orchard Street in Middletown, where they had gone to retrieve some of the former boyfriend’s belongings. Johnson got involved in an argument with the victim and with Johnson’s former boyfriend. During the argument, Johnson stabbed the unarmed victim with a kitchen knife that she had placed in her pocket when she left the house to confront her former boyfriend and the victim. The victim died in the vicinity of the incident, of a single stab wound to the neck.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Middletown Police Department for their investigation and for the arrest of Johnson, as well as the New York State Police, who aided in the investigation. 

“The senseless violent death of this young man deserves a lengthy prison sentence,” said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. “My deepest condolences go out to the family, loved ones, and friends of the victim for their loss.  When young people kill each other the families of everyone involved are irreparably harmed.  My office will continue to seek severe punishment for violent crimes, particularly when they result in the loss of life.”

District Attorney Hoovler commended Senior Assistant District Attorney David Byrne for his prosecution of the case. 

This criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.