A 65-year-old man has been sentenced to 20-years-to-life in state prison after he was accused of beating his wife to death with a crowbar two years ago, according to New York City authorities. Julio Aponte pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree in June, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a Wednesday statement. Aponte and his wife, Maria Kelly, had been married for more than two decades when she left him to live with her mother in May 2021. A month later, Bragg said, Aponte confronted her at a bus stop in the Washington Heights neighborhood. Police said at the time that, as he hit her over the head repeatedly, he bellowed, “How dare you cheat on me?” Aponte then fled the scene, leaving Kelly unconscious on the ground, and called 911, telling a dispatcher he’d killed his wife. Kelly, who suffered significant injuries in the attack, would be taken off life support nearly a week later. “Now, Julio Aponte is facing significant accountability for this chilling and horrific attack,” Bragg said. “I hope that this sentence brings Ms. Kelly’s family, friends and loved ones a sense of relief, comfort and justice.”