SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 9, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A Midvale man was sentenced Wednesday to 15-years-to-life in the Utah State Prison in the stabbing death of his wife.
John Weston Erickson plead guilty in June to charges in the Oct. 28, 2020 killing of Utahna Halona in their home in the presence of their two children. Judge Richard McKelvie handed down the sentence in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court.
“During sentencing the courtroom was full of people that loved Utahna and paid tribute to her life and devotion to her family,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a press release.
“We mourn the loss of Utahna and what her children have lost because of this vicious murder.”
Erickson told first responders on the scene of the homicide “that he just snapped” in fatally attacking his wife with a knife, according to the statement. “The couple’s two young children ran to a neighbor to notify police after they tried to stop their father from hurting their mother.”
Gill thanked the Unified Police Department for its thorough investigation of the killing and lauded the work of prosecutors Morgan Vedejs and Josh Graves and their support staff and their dedication to the case.
