West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney and Past-President of The Florida Bar Michelle Suskauer spoke with Action News Jax about the unusual case of a 91-year-old St. Johns County man facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of his wife.
According to investigators, William Lippold told detectives that his wife was blind and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He reportedly told investigators that he had promised never to place her in a nursing home and had been planning to kill her for approximately a month.
Suskauer discussed the unusual circumstances of prosecuting someone of Lippold’s age and the potential legal issues that could affect how the case is ultimately resolved.
“Obviously very unusual to prosecute someone who is this age,” Suskauer said. “And certainly, any penalty that this gentleman gets basically is a life sentence.”
Suskauer also discussed Florida’s second-degree felony of assisting self-murder, which can carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. She emphasized that Lippold currently faces the substantially more serious charge of first-degree murder.
“That’s not the charge that this gentleman is facing. It’s much more significant. But that doesn’t mean that the case is going to end up that way,” Suskauer said.
She noted that cases involving elderly or seriously ill spouses can present particularly difficult factual and legal questions.
“Maybe an agreement between the parties that this is what they want. Obviously, they’re not here anymore to share that information with law enforcement. But it’s just a very, very tough and tragic situation,” Suskauer said.
Read the full story here: Legal Expert Lays Out Options for 91-Year-Old Accused of Killing His Ill Wife (Action News Jax, via Yahoo News)
