Walter Bustos-Solis, the man who pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a man in the City of Peekskill in 2024, was sentenced to 15 years by Judge James McCarty at the Westchester County Court on Thursday Feb. 19.
Bustos-Solis, who fled the country and was extradited from Mexico last year, was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree with 15 years incarceration followed by five years post-release supervision.
On June 10, 2024, Carlos Luis Rodriguez, 33, was fatally stabbed by Bustos-Solis, 46, following an altercation outside of a bar in the 900 block of Main St. Rodriguez died on June 16, 2024, as a result of the injuries he sustained.
Family members were emotional and in tears throughout the sentencing, including Rodriguez’s cousin Selena Curtin, who read a victim impact statement.
“When a life is taken through violence, the damage reaches far beyond the moment it happens,” Curtin said. “It reaches into generations. It reaches into a child’s heart who will grow up knowing his father only through violence, a child who will grow up knowing his father only through stories and memories.”
She later added, “Whether the intent was to kill or to harm, the decision to use a knife is the decision to gamble with another person’s life. No amount of time will ever be enough when someone is killed. Death is final. Our grief does not come with an end date. We live it every day.”
Bustos-Solis was originally charged with second-degree murder but was allowed to plead to manslaughter instead. Had he been convicted of murder, he would have faced up to 25 years to life in prison.
Brian Bendish, assistant district attorney, said the sentencing could not completely compensate for the loss of another life but asked the judge to impose the agreed-upon sentence as a form of justice for the family.
“This is a case that arises out of terrible decision-making after a night of drinking in Peekskill, New York, when the defendant took out a knife, stabbed the victim multiple times in the legs outside of a bar during a dispute in which the victim was unarmed,” Bendish said. “The family has found it in their heart to forgive Mr. Bustos using their religion, but there are consequences under the law for his decision-making, for the fact that he robbed a child of his father, siblings of their brother, and parents of their son.”
Following the sentencing, Curtin told the Peekskill Herald she felt justice wasn’t served.
In her closing statement, Curtin said, “A sentence may end, but the pain left behind does not. A sentence is more than a number. It reflects on how seriously a life is valued. Our pain will last a lifetime. A short sentence can’t fully represent what was taken from us. I place my anger, grief and heartbreak in God’s hands, trust that the true justice is seen by him, even when human justice feels incomplete.”
A letter read on the behalf of Rodriguez’s sister, Aida Iris Morales Rodriguez, said the Rodriguez family could finally move on knowing that justice was done and offered prayer and forgiveness to Bustos-Solis.
“When you pop in our minds, we’ll just pray for you and we will wish you the best. But that will not happen very often, because we are going to be thinking about the happy times we spent with our loved ones. My family and I can finally move on knowing that justice was done. Nothing can change the fact that you made a decision and you took a life that you had no right to take.”
Asked by the judge if Bustos-Solis had anything he wanted to say, he said, “I want to apologize.”
