Schenectady man gets 22 years in prison for assaulting woman with hammer

SCHENECTADY – A Schenectady man was sentenced on Thursday to 22 years in prison for assaulting a woman with a hammer and fracturing her skull.  

Demar Reinfurt, 43, was convicted in July following a trial on charges of assault, attempted assault, criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful imprisonment.  

The incident occurred on March 27, 2020, when the Schenectady dispatchers received a 911 call from a woman saying “unlock the door” 14 times. The call was mapped to Reinfurt’s apartment and police responded. Officers could hear the woman inside yelling for help. Police began kicking the door in to make entry. Reinfurt then stepped out of the apartment and police found the victim covered in blood, according to a news release from the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office. 

Testing from the New York State Forensic Investigation Center determined that the victim’s blood and DNA were on the hammer.  

The woman was taken to Ellis Hospital and then transported to Albany Medical Center, where she needed to have emergency surgery.  

At trial, Reinfurt took the stand and represented that the assault was justified based on the victim swinging a board at his bicep. The jury rejected that self-defense claim in finding him guilty of the top count of first-degree assault with a dangerous instrument.