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In Superior Court: Attempted murder charge against North Troy stabber dropped

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Jennifer Ahlquist, right, sits with her lawyer, Jill Jourdan, at her arraignment in March.  Ms. Ahlquist admitted stabbing her husband and on Thursday, December 5, received a sentence that did not include jail time.  Photo by Joseph Gresser
Jennifer Ahlquist, right, sits with her lawyer, Jill Jourdan, at her arraignment in March. Ms. Ahlquist admitted stabbing her husband and on Thursday, December 5, received a sentence that did not include jail time. Photo by Joseph Gresser

copyright the Chronicle December 11, 2013

by Joseph Gresser

NEWPORT — Jennifer Ahlquist, who stabbed her husband after finding him at a 19-year-old’s house, will not do jail time.  Under the terms of a plea agreement, Ms. Ahlquist, 41, of North Troy, saw the most serious charge against her — attempted second degree murder — dismissed by the state.

She pled guilty to felony charges of first degree aggravated domestic assault with a weapon and unlawful trespass in an occupied residence, as well as to simple assault.

Sentencing for the aggravated assault charge was deferred for seven years and six months, said Judge Gregory Rainville, who presided Thursday, December 5, in the Orleans Criminal Division of Superior Court.  That means the charge will be expunged from Ms. Ahlquist’s record if she does not get into further legal trouble in that period.

Ms. Ahlquist received a suspended one-to-three-year sentence for the other offenses.

In the first of a series of affidavits in the case, State Police Trooper Brian Connor said police were sent to the 19-year-old woman’s home in North Troy around 4:30 p.m., February 28.

Troopers Debra Munson and Abigail Drew and Orleans County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan MacFarlane were already there when Trooper Connor arrived.  They had arrested Ms. Ahlquist and placed her in the back of Deputy MacFarlane’s cruiser.

Trooper Munson said Ms. Ahlquist had let her into the house where her husband, Sean Ahlquist, 42, was lying on his side in a pool of blood between the kitchen and living room.

After several requests, Ms. Ahlquist showed her a white-handled knife with a one-and-a-half-inch bloodstain from the tip along the blade.  Ms. Ahlquist eventually dropped the knife and, without being asked, turned with her hands behind her back to be handcuffed.

As Deputy MacFarlane put her into the car Ms. Ahlquist said, “I hope I killed him,” court records say.

Meanwhile, Trooper Munson spoke with Mr. Ahlquist, who told her that he had been stabbed in the right shoulder.  The trooper helped Mr. Ahlquist off with his shirt and saw a half-inch “shredded” cut in the area of his upper right shoulder or chest.  Mr. Ahlquist’s speech was mumbled and slightly slurred, and blood covered his chest, jeans and socks.

He said that he and his wife had been having marital difficulties for about a month, and he was not supposed to be where he was found.  He said he went to talk with the 19-year-old woman about “things in general.”

Ms. Ahlquist thought the two were having an affair, Trooper Munson said.

Ms. Ahlquist forced her way into the house while her husband was there and attacked the woman.  The two ended up tussling on the floor of the living room.

Mr. Ahlquist pulled his wife off the woman, who ran into the bathroom while Mr. and Ms. Ahlquist argued.

Ms. Ahlquist yelled that she was going to kill him, the woman, and herself, and grabbed a knife, police said.  Her husband initially held onto her hands but released them at her request, at which point she stabbed him in the chest.

Detective Sergeant Darren Annis described the weapon as a steak knife with a serrated blade about three inches long.

Sergeant Annis said he asked Mr. Ahlquist if he thought his wife was trying to kill him or if she just snapped out of anger.  Both, was the reply.

Trooper Connor said the 19-year-old told him that Ms. Ahlquist punched her in the face and scratched her neck.  While locked in the bathroom, the woman said she heard Ms. Ahlquist shouting, “I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill your little girlfriend.”  The woman said she heard Mr. Ahlquist groan shortly after he told his wife to put down the knife, and then heard him ask her to call 911 because he had been stabbed.

Mr. Ahlquist was taken to North Country Hospital, where his wound was closed with two stitches.

Trooper Connor said Ms. Ahlquist told him that she was driving toward North Troy to see her grandchildren and noticed her SUV parked in the woman’s driveway.

Ms. Ahlquist said she snapped when she saw her husband and the woman together.  She said she grabbed the knife, not out of fear of Mr. Ahlquist but because she was angry.

She told Trooper Connor she did not stab her husband but only poked him with the knife.

contact Joseph Gresser at [email protected]

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