An 84 year old man is being sentenced to 10 years in Jail for killing his wife who was suffering from Alzheimers. This sentence, due to his age, is essentially a life sentence.
After killing her, he tried to kill himself and failed. It is apparent from the testimony of friends and relatives that the man loved his wife very much, an did not kill her out of expedience. Indeed, if that was the reason for it, I doubt he would have tried to kill himself after the fact.
While the judge in the trial says it was the hardest case he ever had to adjudicate, one wonders why he gave the man a 10 year sentence. The man did commit a crime, but it was a crime of love, not hate.
I dont think the man should have gotten an innocent verdict, but one has to question why the long sentence. The Death penalty in this case would have been more welcome for a man who killed his life long companion. IN giving the man a prison sentence, he did give the man the worse possible sentence.
I do not beleive in euthanasia, but I hope I am never in this man's shoes. I know it is murder, but it was done out of love. When the reason is so obvious, perhaps the judge should take into consideration the fact that the man is not a menace to society. Indeed he is only a menace to himself. Why are we wasting taxpayer money to put a man in jail that will not commit the crime again.
It makes one wonder about the 'wisdom' of judges at times.