Man, 92, Convicted of Murdering His Wife

After deliberating less than two days, a Ventura County jury found 92-year-old Alfred Pohlmeier guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday for strangling his elderly wife to death to silence her nagging cough.

Pohlmeier, the oldest defendant in county history, showed no expression as the verdict was read in Superior Court.

After the jury left the courtroom, he turned in his wheelchair and waved to his children in the back row before being led to a cell. The small gesture drew tears from Pohlmeier’s two daughters, who testified for the defense during their father’s two-week murder trial.

Outside the courtroom, family members and Pohlmeier’s attorney, Susan Olson, declined to discuss the verdict, which carries a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn said he was pleased with the verdict, even though he pushed for a first-degree murder conviction.

“This [case] obviously had an overwhelming sympathy factor with a 92-year-old man,” Glynn said. “I can understand why they would reject first-degree murder.”

Pohlmeier, a retired Fillmore postal worker described at the trial as a gentle and kind man, admitted to authorities that he strangled his wife of 62 years on the morning of Sept. 13, 1995, to quiet her incessant coughing.

In two tape-recorded interviews with sheriff’s investigators played for the jury, Pohlmeier explained that his wife’s “hacking” had kept him awake for months.

Prosecutors argued that the slaying of 86-year-old Lidwina Pohlmeier was premeditated. They cited admissions Pohlmeier made during interviews with authorities.

“I just about went nuts,” he told a Ventura County sheriff’s detective, according to court testimony. “I just decided I was going to strangle her and that was it.”

In a conversation with his son, which was also taped by the Sheriff’s Department, Pohlmeier said he had been thinking about killing his wife for “a couple of days.”

But Olson urged the jury to return a lesser verdict of voluntary manslaughter on the grounds that her client “snapped,” choking his wife to death in a moment of desperation.

“This was not a murder,” the defense attorney said during her opening statement. “This was a misguided act of love.”

If Pohlmeier had intended to kill his wife, Olson added, he would not have strangled her in such a rash and violent manner.

Glynn said he did not consider the jury’s decision a compromise vote.

The verdict virtually guarantees that Pohlmeier will spend the rest of his life in custody. But whether he will be incarcerated in a state prison or a mental hospital remains a question.

Pohlmeier pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A separate phase of the trial will begin March 10 to determine his mental state at the time of the killing.