Jeffersonville woman charged in stabbing, released from jail

Clark County

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September 14, 2012

Jeffersonville woman charged in stabbing, released from jail

Domestic dispute sent husband to hospital for barbecue fork wound

By GARY POPP gary.popp@newandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Sep 14, 2012, 04:07 PM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — A woman accused of stabbing her husband in the stomach with a long-handled barbecue fork Tuesday night appeared in Clark County Circuit Court No. 4 Thursday.

Melissa Saulnerond, 42, of 5306 Stonybrook Court, was charged with aggravated battery — injury causing protracted loss or impairment, a class B felony, and battery committed by means of a deadly weapon or resulting in serious bodily injury, a class C felony.

Pro Tem Judge Larry Wilder presided over the initial hearing and entered a preliminary plea of not guilty on Saulnerond’s behalf. Wilder also set a $5,000 cash bond for Saulnerond’s release.

According to court documents, the cash bond was posted, and Clark County Sheriff’s Department deputies said she was released from the Michael L. Becher Adult Correctional Complex on Thursday.

The charges stem from an argument in the couples’ home, after Saulnerond’s husband of 11 years returned home from work about 10:30 p.m. Jeffersonville police responded to the home about an hour later to find Saulnerond in the driveway of the home. After police arrived, she admitted to stabbing her husband in the side, according to the probable-cause affidavit.

According to the Jeffersonville police report, Saulnerond’s husband told police that Saulnerond had picked up the barbecue fork from the kitchen counter and repeatedly stated that she was going to kill him. The stabbing was forceful enough for the tines of the weapon to penetrate Saulnerond’s husband’s abdominal wall.

While being taken into custody, Saulnerond asked the officer to retrieve her cell phone, which was sitting on a grill in the back of the home, so she could contact her cousin to come to the home to watch the couple’s two children who were sleeping during the altercation.

The manuscript continues that after the phone’s screen was activated, a previous text message from Saulnerond to her cousin was visible that stated “she was going to jail because she had just stabbed her husband, and she was waiting on the police to arrive.”

Saulnerond told police, according to the affidavit, that her husband has hit her in the head and pushed her during the argument before she shoved the two-tined grilling tool into the left side of his stomach.

Jeffersonville police said there are no charges pending against Saulnerond’s husband.

Her husband was taken to University of Louisville Hospital emergency room for surgery.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for Nov. 19.

According to the police report, officers located records that showed two previous domestic dispute incidents at the Saulnerond home. In 2009, both Saulnerond and her husband reported being threatened by the other, and in 2011 the husband reported he had been battered by Saulnerond during and argument.