Ohio man gets six years for wife’s hospital killing

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AKRON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man convicted of fatally shootinghis ailing wife in her hospital bed
was sentenced Friday to six yearsin prison.John Wise, 68, has said he shot his debilitated wifeout of love
in August 2012 after she suffered aneurysms and appeared tobe in pain at an Akron hospital. Mercy is not a
defense to a murdercharge in Ohio.The sentence issued by Summit County Court ofCommon Pleas Judge Mary
Margaret Rowlands was in line with aprosecutor’s recommendation that Wise receive a lighter punishment
thanthe minimum 23 years on his most serious conviction, an aggravatedmurder count with a firearm
specification.Wise’s attorney, PaulAdamson, said ahead of the sentencing that they will pursue clemencyfrom
the governor no matter the punishment.County ProsecutorSherri Bevan Walsh had called Wise’s actions illegal
and dangerous butsaid the case warranted leniency. She had recommended that Wise besentenced on a lesser
offense, manslaughter.Neither side hadfound previous case law to support the prosecutor’s suggestion that
thejudge could sentence Wise to six years for manslaughter, a charge thatwasn’t among the counts against him
but is considered a lesser includedoffense.The prosecution instead asked the judge to sentence Wisefor his
felonious assault conviction with a firearms specification, andthe judge did so. Wise was also convicted of
aggravated murder andmurder, which could have led to a life sentence.Police say Wise calmly walked into his
wife’s hospital room on Aug. 4, 2012, and shot her at her bedside. She died the next day.Wise told police he
intended to kill himself after shooting his wife, but the weapon jammed."My recollection is that I
walked in there, and within two minutes, I kissed her on the cheek and shot her," Wise told
jurors.BarbaraWise, 65, was in the intensive care unit at Akron General MedicalCenter after suffering triple
cerebral aneurysms that had left herunable to speak, a family friend has said.A doctor testified that
Barbara Wise wasn’t terminally ill and seemed to be responding to treatment.Wisetestified that he couldn’t
stand to see his wife of 45 years in pain inthe hospital and decided on his course of action after seeing a
tearroll down her cheek.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.

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