Woman Gets 50 to Life in Child Drowning

Woman Diagnosed As Paranoid Schizophrenic Sentenced to 50 Years to Life for Drowning Son

TROY, N.Y. Sept. 3 — A mother diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic was sentenced to the maximum 50 years to life in prison Wednesday for drowning her 4-year-old son in a bathtub last year and attempting to kill her other son.

Christine Wilhelm, 39, was convicted of murder last month in the drowning death of young Luke. She was also found guilty of attempted murder for trying to drown Peter, then 5, who escaped her grasp.

“It was not a merciful killing,” the boys’ father, Kenneth Wilhelm, said as he cried in court Wednesday. “It was more a form of brutal torture.”

As Christine Wilhelm was led from the courtroom after the sentencing, she shouted: “You’re all liars.”

At trial, prosecutors said Wilhelm masked a hideous crime behind her mental illness, while the defense countered that Luke’s drowning at their Hoosick Falls home the night of April 15, 2002, was a tragedy caused by her psychotic delusions.

Wilhelm claimed she drowned Luke because she believed her husband had joined a satanic cult and planned to harm both children. She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

District Attorney Patricia DeAngelis said Wilhelm will get psychiatric treatment in prison.

She remains delusional and talks about the boys in the present tense, defense attorney Jerome Frost said. He planned to appeal, saying testimony from the social workers who interviewed Wilhelm should have been excluded.

A case worker testified that Wilhelm told her she knew what she was doing was wrong and tried to resuscitate Luke, but instead of calling for help, she put him back in the tub and killed him.

Kenneth Wilhelm was working a night shift as a nurse at Albany Medical Center 30 miles away at the time. He testified his wife had stopped taking medication for her illness and her mental condition had deteriorated.

Read Another Article

Will Scientology Celebs Sign ‘Spiritual’ Contract?
Judge to Let Edgar Children Testify Through Closed-Circuit Television

Related News Articles Topic(s): Christine Wilhelm Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Christine Wilhelm Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog