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Send to me in an email; what struck me was the cruelty in this death(How could she not know he was exhausted?)…
Chris Newton-John convicted in 73-year-old husband’s death
By Michael Sangiacomo/Plain Dealer Reporter, February 13, 2009
CHARDON — A 41-year-old transgender woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to reckless homicide for exercising her 73-year-old husband to death.
Christine Newton-John faces up to five years in prison when she is
sentenced. A date for the sentencing has not been set.
Her husband, James Mason, suffered a heart attack on June 2 after being forced to swim for a long period of time in the pool at the Middlefield Village apartment complex where they lived.
Middlefield Police Chief Joseph Stehlik said it was the strangest case he has ever investigated.
"The man was exercised to death, " he said. “I’m glad it’s over.”
Newton-John was born a boy and named John Vallandingham.
Vallandingham underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1993 and changed his name to Christine Newton-John, in honor of his favorite singer, Olivia Newton-John, Stehlik said.
Mason had been friends with the Vallandinghams since before his future wife was born.
He lived in a boarding house operated by Newton-John’s grandmother and for a time shared a bedroom with John Vallandingham.
In 2006, Newton-John and Mason married in Kentucky, a state which allows people to change the gender on their birth certificate thereby permitting the marriage.
“Newton-John always said Mason was touched, a little slow,” Stehlik said.
“Family members believed the marriage was not for sex but companionship. It almost appears that if Newton-John had said, ‘We’re getting married,’ Mason would have done it.”
Stehlik said his deputy was very suspicious of Mason’s death because he had investigated previous complaints of abuse of Mason. The whole matter might have been dismissed as a death by heart attack if a police officer hadn’t noticed the surveillance camera fixed above the pool.
Police viewed the tape and saw Newton-John abusing her frail husband, who friends said was deathly afraid of water.
**Stehlik counted 43 separate occasions in which Newton-John prevented her husband from leaving the water. She dragged him around by his arms and legs.On several occasions, he laid his head on the side of the pool gasping for breath.
**
“The video is bone-chilling,” Stehlik said. “The whole case is very
sinister. My personal feeling is that what she did was more intentional than reckless. This is a case that could just slip through the cracks.”
Geauga County Prosecutor David Joyce said had the video would have had a profound impact on a jury, but he didn’t know if it would have been enough to go for a charge of murder.
“A grand jury indicted on reckless homicide charge,” he said. “You can see the man struggling for his life on the tape, but there is no audio so we couldn’t hear what he was saying. All in all, I’m satisfied with the plea.”
Stehlik said the department investigated reports of abuse weeks before Mason’s death.
“I think he was victimized for years by her,” he said.
Peter Demopoulos, a private investigator who was hired by the apartment owners when Newton-John threatened a lawsuit over the death, thinks Newton-John is getting off easy.
"Considering what she did, it seems like she faces a pretty light sentence,"he said. “I suppose it was done to avoid a whole trial, but that tape is startling.”
Newton-John’s lawyer, Geauga County Chief Public Defender Robert Umholtz, declined to comment.
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/02/chris_newtonjohn_pleads_guilty.html
More of the same here:
Ohio woman pleads guilty in death of elderly husband:
apnews.myway.com/article/20090214/D96BGT8G0.html
Chris Newton-John convicted in 73-year-old husband’s death
By Michael Sangiacomo/Plain Dealer Reporter, February 13, 2009
CHARDON — A 41-year-old transgender woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to reckless homicide for exercising her 73-year-old husband to death.
Christine Newton-John faces up to five years in prison when she is
sentenced. A date for the sentencing has not been set.
Her husband, James Mason, suffered a heart attack on June 2 after being forced to swim for a long period of time in the pool at the Middlefield Village apartment complex where they lived.
Middlefield Police Chief Joseph Stehlik said it was the strangest case he has ever investigated.
"The man was exercised to death, " he said. “I’m glad it’s over.”
Newton-John was born a boy and named John Vallandingham.
Vallandingham underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1993 and changed his name to Christine Newton-John, in honor of his favorite singer, Olivia Newton-John, Stehlik said.
Mason had been friends with the Vallandinghams since before his future wife was born.
He lived in a boarding house operated by Newton-John’s grandmother and for a time shared a bedroom with John Vallandingham.
In 2006, Newton-John and Mason married in Kentucky, a state which allows people to change the gender on their birth certificate thereby permitting the marriage.
“Newton-John always said Mason was touched, a little slow,” Stehlik said.
“Family members believed the marriage was not for sex but companionship. It almost appears that if Newton-John had said, ‘We’re getting married,’ Mason would have done it.”
Stehlik said his deputy was very suspicious of Mason’s death because he had investigated previous complaints of abuse of Mason. The whole matter might have been dismissed as a death by heart attack if a police officer hadn’t noticed the surveillance camera fixed above the pool.
Police viewed the tape and saw Newton-John abusing her frail husband, who friends said was deathly afraid of water.
**Stehlik counted 43 separate occasions in which Newton-John prevented her husband from leaving the water. She dragged him around by his arms and legs.On several occasions, he laid his head on the side of the pool gasping for breath.
**
“The video is bone-chilling,” Stehlik said. “The whole case is very
sinister. My personal feeling is that what she did was more intentional than reckless. This is a case that could just slip through the cracks.”
Geauga County Prosecutor David Joyce said had the video would have had a profound impact on a jury, but he didn’t know if it would have been enough to go for a charge of murder.
“A grand jury indicted on reckless homicide charge,” he said. “You can see the man struggling for his life on the tape, but there is no audio so we couldn’t hear what he was saying. All in all, I’m satisfied with the plea.”
Stehlik said the department investigated reports of abuse weeks before Mason’s death.
“I think he was victimized for years by her,” he said.
Peter Demopoulos, a private investigator who was hired by the apartment owners when Newton-John threatened a lawsuit over the death, thinks Newton-John is getting off easy.
"Considering what she did, it seems like she faces a pretty light sentence,"he said. “I suppose it was done to avoid a whole trial, but that tape is startling.”
Newton-John’s lawyer, Geauga County Chief Public Defender Robert Umholtz, declined to comment.
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/02/chris_newtonjohn_pleads_guilty.html
More of the same here:
Ohio woman pleads guilty in death of elderly husband:
apnews.myway.com/article/20090214/D96BGT8G0.html