Husband, 68, shot ailing wife dead in intensive care hospital bed 'out of love'
- John Wise, 68, shot dead his wife Barbara, 65, in her Ohio hospital bed last year out of mercy
- Barbara suffered a serious stroke last year
- John claims the couple agreed they didn't want to live out their years bedridden and disabled
- He faces life in jail if convicted of murder
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'Out of love': John Wise, 68, is charged with fatally shooting his wife in her hospital bed in August 2012
A 68-year-old man who allegedly shot dead his sick wife in her hospital bed 'out of love' will tell jurors about the heartbreak he felt over her debilitated condition, his attorney said.
Ohio's John Wise will ask for the jury's understanding, not sympathy, when the murder trial commences tomorrow, attorney Paul Adamson said.
Wise, who has been under house arrest since last year, could face life in prison if convicted of aggravated murder.
Police say Wise calmly walked into his 65-year-old wife Barbara's room at Akron General Medical Center and shot her on August 4 last year.
His wife of 45 years died the next morning.
A week earlier, she had suffered triple cerebral aneurysms that left her unable to speak.
More than a year later, Wise 'is doing OK, but things are never going to be great for him,' Adamson said during the final week of trial preparation.
'He's stable, but he's still grieving, I guess is the best way to describe him, for the loss of this life,' he said.
Those who know Wise described him as a loving husband devastated by his wife's sudden medical emergency.
Some called it a mercy killing by a loving husband.
But that legal defense isn't an option in Ohio, and Adamson said he would argue an insanity defense based on severe depression.
Tragic circumstances: John Wise's attorney says the alleged killer is still grieving over his wife's death
'Our burden there is to establish that he was suffering from some severe mental disease or defect at the time he committed the offense, and as a result he didn't understand the wrongfulness of what he did,' Adamson said.
'Now he did it out of love, but he wasn't thinking rationally when he did it.'
Prosecutors declined to discuss any aspect of the case ahead of the trial.
Wise intends to testify but won't appeal to jurors for sympathy, Adamson said.
'We know there may be sympathy for him and there may be others who feel just the opposite. That's not the crux of our case,' Adamson said.
Those subpoenaed to testify at the trial include the doctor who confronted Wise in the intensive care unit moments after the shooting.
Police say Wise calmly walked into his 65-year-old wife Barbara's room at Akron General Medical Center (pictured) and shot her on August 4 last year
'He said to me, 'Please tell me she's dead',' Dr. Michael A. Passero Jr. said after the shooting. After checking the monitors, Passero said, 'I said quietly, 'She's not dead'.'
Terry Henderson, a longtime steel plant co-worker of John Wise, said after the shooting that the couple had agreed they didn't want to live out their years bedridden and disabled.
John Wise suffered from diabetes and nerve damage that made his hands and feet numb and had survived bladder cancer, according to Henderson.
The shooting has left 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 spouse or relative kills a loved one to end their suffering?
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