Man Admits Killing His Ailing Spouse

A 67-year-old Thousand Oaks man pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting his seriously ill wife, telling a judge that he had to end her suffering.

“I’m sorry,” Earl Lindquist said during an arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court. “I loved my wife with all my heart and soul.”

Lindquist entered the guilty plea without hesitation--even as Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Murphy warned the retiree that he faces up to 11 years in state prison when sentenced May 4.

Leaning forward in his chair, Lindquist told Judge Herbert Curtis that he is willing to suffer the legal consequences of his actions.

Ultimately, he said, he would be judged by a higher authority.

“I want to tell the truth--the whole truth,” he said. “So help me, God.”

Lindquist admitted that on Jan. 21 he shot 60-year-old Janet Lindquist in the head at the couple’s Arbor Lane condominium. He then called police and told them what he did.

For years, Janet Lindquist suffered from a medical condition that was not terminal but caused her unrelenting pain and a constant ringing in her head, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors.

Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher recently described the ailment as a form of neuralgia, or nerve pain, that apparently was worsened by surgery intended to alleviate the ringing.

Janet Lindquist was in agony and begged family members--especially her husband--to put her out of her misery, Asher said.

During Tuesday’s arraignment, Lindquist told Curtis that he left his engineering job to care for his wife and may have trouble paying any restitution because he is now retired.

With Asher at his side, Lindquist asked various questions about the rights he waives in pleading guilty and occasionally blurted out statements to the judge.

After waiving his right to a trial, for instance, Lindquist told Curtis that he would have told a jury his actions were justified to end his wife’s pain.

“I would have told everyone [on the jury] and the judge that I had to do what I did,” he said.

Lindquist remains free on his own recognizance and is not considered a threat to the public. After the hearing, he walked out of court accompanied by friends and family.

He declined to comment on his plea.

Outside the courtroom, Murphy said prosecutors have not offered Lindquist any deals on sentencing in return for his guilty plea.

But she noted that there is no minimum sentence for voluntary manslaughter, which means Curtis has a wide discretion in deciding how Lindquist should be punished.

Murphy said the judge could order Lindquist to serve anything from probation to 11 years in state prison. Murphy also confirmed that Janet Lindquist had been in pain for some time. She said medical records showed the pain had grown worse during the last two years.

After reviewing medical and other evidence in the case, she said, prosecutors concluded the killing was a clear case of voluntary manslaughter, or an intentional killing without malice.