Whipped Cream Difficulties

On September 22, 1985, Roy McCaleb was shot and killed in his Houston home. He was sleeping at the time, and was heavily sedated due to recent back surgery and a heart attack.

McCaleb’s wife, Carolyn Sue Krizan-Wilson (as she is now known) stated that the shooter was a man who had car-jacked and raped her 10 days previously, then broke into her home that night…

…threatened her, scraped her with a coat hanger and dripped hot wax on her. He again held a knife to her throat and raped her, she said. The man then took the gun she kept under her pillow, went to where her husband was sleeping and shot him, she said.

Krizan-Wilson went on to claim that, while the intruder was fleeing the scene, he dropped the gun; she said she picked it up and fired a couple of shots at him.

Why am I bringing up this cold case now?

Krizan-Wilson confessed that this whole story was a lie, and pled guilty to killing her husband.

But that’s not why I bring it up.

In exchange for the plea, Krizan-Wilson was sentenced to six months in jail, which will be followed by 10 years probation.

But that’s not why I bring it up, either.

James Stafford, an attorney for Krizan-Wilson said the septuagenarian is suffering from dementia and a host of other health issues and wanted to get past the case against her.

The courts in the state of Texas are taking pleas from people who suffer from dementia? I realize that there’s not a good alternative (how can a person with dementia effectively assist in their own defense at trial?) but there’s something about taking a plea under these circumstances that make me go “What?”