New Rochelle woman gets one year in jail for razor-blade assault on romantic rival

Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
·3 min read
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When Dr. Alika Crew slashed the neck of her ex-fiance's girlfriend three years ago, the victim was caught in the middle of a yearslong toxic relationship that had left the successful orthodontist a battered woman.

Today the victim's physical and emotional wounds remain and as Crew was about to get a favorable sentence, the woman seems to struggle understanding why so much focus has been on what Crew suffered.

"I thought that my life was going to end," she wrote in a victim impact statement read in court Friday by Westchester Assistant District Attorney Craig Ascher. "I didn't see my whole life flash before my eyes because I was busy fighting for my life. I saw someone who was trying to end my life and I couldn't understand why."

Dr. Alika Crew, center, apologizes before being sentenced to one year in jail for first-degree assault in the 2020 stabbing attack on her ex-fiance's girlfriend, Sept. 15, 2023 at Westchester County Court in White Plains. Her lawyers Anthony Ricco, left, and William Martin, right, sought leniency under state Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act that allows mitigation if criminal conduct resulted from significant domestic abuse.

What was Crew's sentence for assault?

Crew was then sentenced to one year in jail Friday for her guilty plea to first-degree assault after acting state Supreme Court Justice James McCarty agreed with both sides that she qualified for leniency under the 2019 Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act. The law allows for mitigation when a defendant has faced such physical, sexual or psychological abuse from a member of their household that it contributes significantly to their criminal conduct.

The felony assault charge usually carries a mandatory state prison term ranging from five to 25 years. But McCarty said that "the imposition of even the minimum sentence would be unduly harsh and unjust in this case."

Judge James McCarty speaks during Dr. Alika Crew's sentencing for first-degree assault in the 2020 stabbing attack on ex-fiance's girlfriend, Sept. 15, 2023 at Westchester County Court in White Plains. Dr. Crew's lawyers are seeking leniency under state Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act that allows mitigation if criminal conduct resulted from significant domestic abuse.

Crew, who had been free on bail, was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. Westchester correction officials are expected to arrange for Crew to be incarcerated at another facility because her ex-fiance is a correction officer at the county jail in Valhalla.

The District Attorney’s Office conceded that Crew qualified for the shorter sentence under the DVSJA and she became the second defendant in Westchester to benefit from the new law. Six others who sought resentencing were denied, either because they could not prove that they were victims of domestic abuse or because judges disagreed that the abuse contributed meaningfully to their crime.

Crew sought leniency from court Orthodontist who stabbed romantic rival in New Rochelle seeks leniency as violence victim

Girlfriend on assault: 'I will never be able to put this behind me'

In the summer of 2020, Crew's ex-fiance had brought his new girlfriend into the New Rochelle home Crew bought and still lived in.

On July 28, Crew hid in the woman's car and when the girlfriend drove away, Crew attacked her with a razor blade. When the attack was over she tried to pretend she was a good Samaritan helping her when the woman pointed out that she was the attacker.

Assistant District Attorney Craig Ascher reads the victim's impact statement before Dr. Alika Crew's sentencing for first-degree assault in the 2020 stabbing attack on her ex-fiance's girlfriend, Sept. 15, 2023 at Westchester County Court in White Plains. Dr. Crew's lawyers are seeking leniency under state Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act that allows mitigation if criminal conduct resulted from significant domestic abuse.

The victim said in her statement that Crew had "hunted and assaulted" her and that she is reminded daily of the ordeal by the permanent scars on her neck and as she continues to drive the same car in which she was attacked. She said she has struggled financially to keep up with therapy and has found herself in debt, fighting to pay for medical expenses incurred because she was attacked.

"I will never be able to put this behind me," she wrote. "My attack will always be with me and always haunt me. I don't know if I will ever be okay."

The victim did not say what Crew's sentence should have been but she wrote that she will "never be okay with leniency being given to my attacker."

Doctors who evaluated Crew found that she had suffered significantly from years of abuse that included being choked, having a gun put in her face, forced to have sex and financing the household with little material help from her abuser.

Defense lawyer Anthony Ricco said Crew has "come a long way" and was appreciative that prosecutors worked with her team to arrive at a just conclusion.

Before McCarty imposed the sentence, Crew gave a simple apology without addressing what she herself went through.

"I am sorry," she said. "I am sorry for any pain that I have caused."

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Orthodontist gets year in jail for New Rochelle razor-blade assault