Ex-cop Gets 10 Years For Wife`s Murder

September 18, 1991|By Terry Wilson.

A retired Chicago police officer convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting his physically disabled wife was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison by a Cook County Circuit Court judge.

Though several friends wept, Gerald Williams, 69, of 5440 S. Nordica Ave., showed no emotion as Judge Daniel Kelley announced his sentence for the Dec. 24, 1989, murder of Alice Williams, 64.

Alice Williams, who was shot in the temple with a handgun, had suffered from multiple sclerosis for 20 years and was confined to a wheelchair, according to testimony. Williams` daughter, Alice Kyle, 24, testified during the trial that Alice Williams had looked forward to the future in hopes that a cure for the debilitating disease would be found.

``His wife was a human being and regardless of her illness, she had a right to live,`` Kelley said.

Assistant State`s Atty. Kip Owen had asked Kelley to sentence Williams to 30 years in prison for the murder, which Owen argued Williams did to end his suffering, not his wife`s. Williams had been his wife`s primary caretaker for 20 years.

Williams` defense attorney, Matthew Carmody, pleaded for probation, asking Kelley to make Williams perform community service to help keep others who are caring for infirm relatives from taking the same drastic action.

But Kelley said, ``To impose a sentence of probation would definitely deprecate the seriousness of the offense and deprecate the seriousness of the defendant`s actions.``