NATION : Ailing Florida ‘Mercy Killer,’ 81, Freed; Says He Regrets Slaying
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LAKE BUTLER, Fla. — Roswell Gilbert walked out of a Florida prison a free man today and said he now regrets the 1985 “mercy killing” of his ailing wife.
The 81-year-old Gilbert, granted clemency because he suffers from heart and lung disease, was freed from the North Florida Reception Center after serving 5 1/2 years for the slaying.
Gilbert smiled broadly as he left the jail, but he expressed remorse over the killing of his wife, who had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
“I shouldn’t have killed my wife; now I know that,” he said. “I know the public at least understood what I did if they didn’t approve of it.”
He called the slaying an “act of desperation.”
He called Alzheimer’s “a horror, an absolute horror,” and said he believes that euthanasia should be legalized for some cases.
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