Judge's ailment delays hearing on castration death

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- A heart attack suffered by a Butler County district justice has delayed the preliminary hearing of a Harrisville woman charged with the murder of her husband.
Tammy Lynn Felbaum, 42, of Smith Road, was to appear before District Justice Clifford Woessner this morning to answer to charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment of another person and unauthorized practice of medicine and surgery in the death of James John Felbaum, 40.
However, a spokeswoman in Justice Woessner's office said the district justice suffered a heart attack over the weekend and that the hearing had to be postponed. Justice Woessner is recovering, the spokeswoman said.
The hearing has tentatively been rescheduled for 9 a.m. Friday in the Butler County Courthouse, and a different justice will have to hear the case, the spokeswoman said.
Allegations: Felbaum is accused of castrating her husband in a crude surgery at their trailer home in Butler County between Feb. 22 and Feb. 25, and authorities said that was a contributing factor in his death.
Her husband was pronounced dead at United Community Hospital in Grove City early Feb. 25. An autopsy showed he died of asphyxiation because of aspiration of gastric contents, literally choking to death on his own vomit.
Various drugs were found in his system, but none in lethal quantities, police said.