BUTLER, PA. Transsexual woman asks for new sentence

She had claimed her husband castrated himself as a sign of his devotion to her.
BUTLER, Pa. (AP) -- A transsexual woman convicted in the castration death of her husband wants a judge to reconsider her prison sentence and says her trial lawyer was more interested in book and movie rights than in defending her.
Tammy Felbaum filed a handwritten document from prison this month appealing the five- to 11-year prison sentence imposed by Judge William Shaffer of Butler County Common Pleas Court.
Felbaum was convicted in a nonjury trial of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and the unauthorized practice of medicine in the February 2001 death of her husband, James Felbaum.
Husband's death
Prosecutors said James Felbaum, the woman's sixth husband, died from a combination of the pain from a castration performed by his wife and the effects of a painkiller. A coroner said the victim choked on his own vomit.
Felbaum has maintained that her husband castrated himself as a sign of devotion to her.
In the handwritten document, Felbaum said her trial lawyer, Richard E. Goldinger, failed to contact experts who could have helped her case.
She also sent the judge a document purported to be an agreement between the woman and her lawyer regarding book, movie and television rights. However, the document does not appear to be signed.
Calls to Goldinger's office Saturday were not immediately returned, and Goldinger has an unlisted number and could not be reached at home to comment.