Not a Wise move:
"Ex-Ohio doctor sentenced in drug death" Associated Press, December 21, 2013
DELAWARE, Ohio — A former doctor was sentenced to 36 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to causing the death of a pregnant woman who had turned to prostitution to support herself and her two young children.
Former emergency room doctor Ali Salim, 44, had faced up to 37 years in prison. He was given nearly that with a sentence of 36 years and four months; a few weeks are likely to be subtracted because of time served.
He previously pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Deanna Ballman and her nearly full-term child.
Ballman died of a fatal heroin overdose, which investigators say Salim administered at his house. Prosecutor Kyle Rohrer says there is no evidence Ballman used drugs.
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This is the way to do it:
"Ohio man convicted of killing hospitalized wife" by John P. Coyne | Associated Press, November 09, 2013
AKRON, Ohio — A jury on Friday convicted a man who said he fatally shot his hospitalized wife out of love because of her debilitated condition that left her unable to speak.
John Wise, 68, could face life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18.
Police say Wise calmly walked into Barbara Wise’s hospital room on Aug. 4, 2012, and shot her. She died the next day. Barbara Wise, 65, was in the intensive care unit at Akron General Medical Center after suffering triple cerebral aneurysms that had left her unable to speak, a family friend has said.
Wise testified that he couldn’t stand to see his wife of 45 years in pain in the hospital. ‘‘She opened her eyes and looked at me like she was in pain and a tear rolled down her cheek,’’ Wise told the jury this week. ‘‘I decided then what I was going to do.’’
Hours later he returned to the hospital with a gun.
‘‘My recollection is that I walked in there, and within two minutes, I kissed her on the cheek and shot her,’’ he said. Wise told police he then intended to kill himself, but the weapon jammed. After the shooting, Wise surrendered to hospital security.
Mercy is not a defense to a murder charge in Ohio. However, in closing arguments Friday, defense attorney Paul Adamson said Wise acted out of love. ‘‘He was not there out of hate. He fully believed he was doing the right thing, not the wrong thing.”
The jury deliberated for about three hours Friday.
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I would be one angry juror.
"Mercy killing leads to 6-year sentence for Ohio man" by John Coyne | Associated Press, December 14, 2013
AKRON, Ohio — An Ohio man convicted of fatally shooting his ailing wife in her hospital bed was sentenced Friday to six years in prison and plans to seek clemency from the governor.
John Wise, 68, said he shot his debilitated wife out of love in 2012 after she suffered aneurysms and appeared to be in pain. Mercy is not a defense to a murder charge in Ohio.
The sentence issued by Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands was in line with prosecutors’ recommendation that the Massillon man receive a lighter punishment than the minimum 23 years on his most serious conviction, an aggravated murder count.
Holding a cane, Wise remained seated during the hearing. He made a brief statement, choking up as he apologized to his family.
Wise’s attorney, Paul Adamson, said they will pursue clemency from the governor and create an online petition for supporters to sign.
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"Ohio man to seek clemency in mercy killing" by Kantele Franko | Associated Press, December 13, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man convicted of fatally shooting his ailing wife in her hospital bed will seek clemency from the governor after his sentencing Friday, even if the judge follows a prosecutor’s recommendation for a lighter punishment because of the circumstances of the case.
John Wise, 68, has said he shot his debilitated wife out of love in August 2012 after she suffered an aneurysm and appeared to be in pain.
Wise was convicted on charges including aggravated murder with a firearm, which could carry a life sentence.
The prosecutor recommended he be sentenced on a lesser crime and get a six-year term.
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"Ohio man who shot wife seeks clemency" by Thomas J. Sheeran | Associated Press, January 15, 2014
CLEVELAND — A 68-year-old man sentenced to six years in prison for fatally shooting his ailing wife in her hospital bed wants clemency to avoid dying in prison.
‘‘I have to live with what I did and that will never change but I would truly appreciate the opportunity to pass my remaining years in the home I shared with my wife and son,’’ said John Wise, of Massillon, in the clemency application.
I'm fine with house arrest.
The application, obtained Tuesday from the Ohio Parole Board, was submitted last week for the consideration of Governor John Kasich.
Clemency options include reducing Wise’s sentence or setting him free. The governor’s spokesman said the administration does not comment on pending clemency applications.
The Summit County prosecutor’s office in Akron has said it would oppose any reduction in Wise’s punishment.
Wise, in a sworn statement notarized by his defense attorney, reiterated his remorse over killing his wife in 2012.
‘‘I committed a horrible act while in a depressed and desperate mental state,’’ Wise said. ‘‘I am truly sorry for what I did. Although I had nothing but good intentions, that is no excuse.’’
I have often been told that good intentions pave the road to hell.
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FLASHBACK:
"Hospital shooting may have been mercy killing" by John Seewer and Thomas J. Sheeran |
Associated Press, August 13, 2012
CLEVELAND — John Wise watched a tear roll down his wife’s face as he
stood alongside her bed in the intensive care unit. She had been unable
to speak after suffering a stroke and seemed to be blinking to
acknowledge him, Wise confided to a friend who had driven him to the
hospital.
The couple had been married 45 years and Wise told his friend that
they had agreed long ago they did not want to live out their years
bedridden and disabled.
So a week after Barbara Wise’s stroke, investigators say, her husband
fired a single round into her head. She died the next day, leading
prosecutors to charge the 66-year-old man with aggravated murder
Wednesday in what police suspect was a mercy killing.
The shooting leaves authorities in a dilemma some experts say will
happen with greater frequency in coming years as the baby boom
generation ages — what is the appropriate punishment when a relative
kills a loved one to end their suffering?
More often than not, a husband who kills an ailing wife never goes to
trial and lands a plea deal with a sentence that carries no more than a
few years in prison, research has shown.
‘‘It’s a tragedy all around that the law really isn’t designed
to address,’’ said Mike Benza, who teaches law at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland.
A New York man in March was sentenced to six months in jail after
suffocating his 98-year-old disabled mother and slitting his own wrists.
He told authorities he had just been told he had cancer and believed he
was going to die soon, and feared no one would care for his mom. A
Washington state man accused of shooting his terminally ill wife this
year told investigators she had begged him to kill her; he is free on
bail while prosecutors weigh charges.
Almost always, there are deeper issues involved with the accused,
including depression, their own health problems, and the stress of
taking care of a dying spouse, said Donna Cohen, head of the Violence
and Injury Prevention Program at the University of South Florida.
Seeing a dying or disabled spouse suffering can be enough to push
someone over the edge, said Cohen, who is writing a book called
‘‘Caregivers Who Kill.’’
‘‘Men will hit a wall when they can’t do anything else,’’ she said. ‘‘That’s usually a trigger.’’
She worries this will happen more often with longer life expectancies
and a continuing shortage of mental health services for older people....
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As heartbreaking as it is there is an element of love there.
