Husband, 90, Charged With Murder in Wife’s Death : Courts: Fillmore man’s spouse dies two days after he reported she was choking. Official says it’s ‘not a mercy killing.’

A 90-year-old Fillmore man was charged with murder when his wife of 60 years died Friday, two days after he called 911 to report that she was choking.

Authorities on Friday said they think Alfred Pohlmeier is the oldest defendant ever to appear before a Ventura County judge.

Pohlmeier is accused of choking his 86-year-old wife, Lidwina, into unconsciousness early Wednesday morning. She died in a Santa Paula hospital Friday.

Hospital workers were suspicious of Pohlmeier’s version of his wife’s injuries after noticing bruises on her neck. Pohlmeier then admitted that he wanted his wife to die before he did because she was ill, authorities said.

But prosecutors do not buy that story.

“This was a cold-blooded murder, not a mercy killing,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn said. Glynn did not disclose a possible motive for the killing.

Appearing dazed and with his voice cracking, the balding and gray-haired Pohlmeier did not enter a plea Friday in Ventura County Municipal Court after prosecutors formally charged the retired postal worker with first-degree murder.

His arraignment was delayed until Sept. 29 to give his attorneys time to prepare a case. His attorneys will also argue to have Pohlmeier’s $250,000 bail reduced.

If convicted of premeditated murder, Pohlmeier will face a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. And prosecutors said they intend to make Pohlmeier the oldest prisoner in the state.

“Whether a 9-year-old or a 90-year-old did it, murder is still murder,” said Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes.

Pohlmeier’s attorney, Public Defender Bruce Freed, left without commenting on the case. But other attorneys said Pohlmeier faces no chance of leniency because of his age if he is convicted.

“There is nothing a judge can do, it’s a mandatory sentence,” Ventura attorney James M. Farley said. “He dies” in prison, he said.

The oldest California prison inmate at the moment is murderer Matt Fair, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Judy Metz said. Metz said Fair is either one year younger or two years older than Pohlmeier. Officials have two birth dates listed for Fair and are unsure which is correct, Metz said.

Fair is serving his 25-year sentence in Elm Hall--dubbed the “Old Man’s Dorm”--at the California Institution for Men in Chino, Metz said.

The 157-bed Elm Hall is specially designed for minimum-security elderly convicts, prison spokesman Kevin Peters said. But if older maximum-security inmates need around-the-clock attention, they could end up in Chino.

Though disheveled in court Friday, Pohlmeier appeared to be younger than 90.

Pohlmeier has no previous criminal record, Glynn said. The Pohlmeiers lived in a two-bedroom mobile home in Fillmore for 18 years. They had five children, including two sons living in Simi Valley.

Correspondent Stephanie Brommer contributed to this report.