Friday, November 5, 2010

"Life," for Hope Tilley's Husband


Hope Tilley was sick, depressed and despairing according to her letters and pleas to her husband, David (pic), 83.  She begged him to "kill" her not wishing to screw up a suicide.  An Ohio court has sentenced the wheelchair bound octogenarian to 18 Years to Life.  Here's the Columbus Dispatch account:

"For months, Hope Tilley (pic, left) begged her husband to end her depression and despair by killing her in her sleep. In the early hours of Sept. 23, he fulfilled her request and likely will spend the rest of his life in prison for it.

David Tilley, 83, of Guysville, was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to murder. Police responded to a 911 call from Tilley around 1:30 a.m., reporting that his wife had been shot and killed. Tilley, who recently had a leg amputated and is wheelchair-bound, surrendered to police after they arrived at his home.

Story continues belowAdvertisement While investigating the home, police said they found letters and notes written by Hope scattered throughout the house. In them, she described herself as depressed and unable to care for herself and her aging husband.

'She had a fear of killing herself because she thought she might mess it up,' said David McNamara, Tilley's defense attorney.  After the sentencing, McNamara read a statement from Tilley saying he was only following through with his wife's wishes.

'It's really kind of an unfortunate situation,' Athens County Prosecutor David Warren said. 'You're dealing with a man who is 83 years old, and it's unlikely that he'll survive prison.'

Warren said that, in 28 years as a prosecutor, he had never before seen a case like this. 'As a society, we can't have people deciding to end other people's lives, even if the victim consents to it,' he said."
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Love story, probably.  Justice?  Maybe.

7 comments:

  1. Side note, BL. Guysville would be a great place to headquarter the Mens Show.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Prosecutor David Warren said
    "'As a society, we can't have people deciding to end other people's lives... "

    Unless, of course, you are a county prosecutor trying to convince 12 jurors to end other people's lives.

    ReplyDelete
  3. gregg z
    well said

    the pope

    ReplyDelete
  4. When we try to register the Cyprus Company online, we need to fill a lot of fields which We not aware of what are about.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I knew Hope and David, and just learned of this story. I guess I'm shocked, but ultimately not surprised. I knew Hope to be a bit eccentric, and David to be calm, caring, intelligent...

    ReplyDelete