Man pleads guilty in wife’s death

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

An Ohio man has pleaded guilty in the death of his sickly wife, who was found at their home covered in bedsores and maggots.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that 65-year-old Darrel White of Cincinnati pleaded guilty to charges of reckless homicide and failure to provide care to an impaired person.

“I did the best I could under the conditions,” White told a judge in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Jorene White was bedridden and suffered from debilitating arthritis. Authorities said Darrel White allowed her to die by not taking care of her or not taking her to a doctor.

Police found her dead at their home on July 23. She had died a day earlier from a blood infection, according to the Hamilton County coroner’s office.

White’s attorney, Herbert Freeman, said White never was able to shake the effects of the horror and loss he felt while serving as a cook in the Vietnam War. He later worked for The Enquirer printing company for 35 years, until he left to care for his wife.

Prosecutors agreed with Freeman that White was overburdened at home.

“I think this guy got overwhelmed and gradually stopped [providing] the proper care,” said Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier.

White faces up to 61/2 years in prison. He’s being held in jail until his Dec. 15 sentencing.

“He had his hands full; there is no doubt about it,” Piepmeier said. “But at some point, you have to realize that you have to do better than that.”