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 TROY---Rensselaer County district attorney Patricia DeAngelis says that she is "considering the possibility of giving a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity" in the Christine Wilhelm case, the Hoosick Falls mother whose conviction of drowning her four-year-old son in a bathtub and trying to kill her other son has been reversed.
Wilhelm has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic but DeAngelis had pressed for a 50 year to life prison sentence and denied her mental health treatment.
The murder and attempted murder convictions against Wilhelm were reversed last week and a new trial ordered by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court because of incriminating statements made by Rensselaer County social services workers who visited Wilhelm in her cell without legal counsel being present, a violation of the woman's constitutional rights.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/082706TubDeathReversal.html
DeAngelis, who was an assistant district attorney under former DA Kenneth Bruno at the time she prosecuted the Wilhelm case, seemed to be making excuses in a public statement issued Monday about the case.
"Three years ago, I was an assistant district attorney, assigned to prosecute the case which I did and after a six-week trial, after hearing all the evidence presented to them by both sides, the jury found Christine Wilhelm guilty of murder and attempted murder", DeAngelis said. "Now that I am the district attorney, I will treat this like a brand new case".
DeAngelis said Monday that "starting today, I will take a fresh look into the Wilhelm case. My office will start at square one to re-examine the evidence, witnesses, testimony and make a conclusion on how the case should proceed from here".
DeAngelis has three options in the case. She has 30 days to appeal the Appellate Division decision to the Court of Appeals, take the matter back to trial or accept a negotiated plea bargain in the case.
She said that she would keep all of "our options open and determine where the case is best suited. I can assure you that whatever decision I make will not be an easy one".
The district attorney, who was accused by Wilhelm's appellate attorney Jerome Frost of prosecutorial misconduct in the case, said that she had spoken to Ken Wilhelm, Christine's husband, at length about the appellate decision, "the evidence that currently exists as well as our options and I will continue to consult him throughout this process. This is a very different case today than it was three years ago, that being said I can not go into the details at this time".
DeAngelis said that the people of Rensselaer County had her word that the case "will be resolved so that justice is reached for all those involved".
Frost says that if there is a new trial, the testimony of the two social services workers will not be admissible as the appellate court ruled that Judge Patrick McGrath had improperly admitted the testimony at trial.
The Wilhelm case has a close parallel to the Andrea Yates murder case in Texas whose murder conviction for drowning her five children was overturned. Following a retrial, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
It is likely that Yates, like Wilhelm, will be institutionalized for the rest of her life. 8-29-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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