67-Year-Old Gets 6-Year Term for Killing Ill Wife

A 67-year-old man who shot and killed his ailing wife two days before Christmas pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to prison.

William Douglas, of Normal Heights, asked San Diego Municipal Judge Patricia Cowett for immediate sentencing, and he received a six-year term in state prison and a $100 fine.

Douglas had been charged with murdering his wife, Patricia Douglas, 60, by firing two shots into her head while she was in bed. They had been married 42 years.

The murder charge was dismissed Wednesday in a plea bargain. Douglas could have received a maximum term of 16 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lorraine Rooney told the judge the plea bargain was entered into because of many factors, including the age and medical condition of the defendant.

Rooney declined to say afterwards what medical problems William Douglas has, and his attorney, Fred Small, could not be reached for comment.

In an Associated Press story on Jan. 2, the couple’s son, Gary Douglas, was quoted as saying his father suffered from colon and prostate cancer. He also said his father had emphysema and “a very bad heart.”

Gary Douglas said his mother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and degenerative arthritis.

Douglas was a San Diego police officer for three years in the 1950s and had worked as a deputy county marshal.

Cowett imposed a three-year sentence for manslaughter and added three more years to the term for the use of a gun during a crime. She declined to grant Douglas probation.