December 2, 2009

"Architect Clive Wille, 56, shouted 'Die, you bitch' as he tried to suffocate third wife and former secretary Susan Wille, 38, on their marital bed."

But Susan still wants to be friends with him. The judges said: "Nevertheless I am of the view only a significant sentence can be justified given the serious nature of the offence." Significant sentence? 7 years. (It's the UK.)

22 comments:

Scott said...

And your point is... ?

John said...

In this vain Ann, I would highly reccomend the documentary Crazy Love.

http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Love-Burt-Pugach/dp/B000U6YJLU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1259768539&sr=1-2

It tells the story of Burth Pugach and Linda Riss. They met in the late 1950s when Riss was a teenager. Pugach was older and a con man and completely crazy. After Riss, who was strikingly beautiful, dumped Pugach, Pugach attacked her by throwing acid on her face perminantly disfiguring her. Twenty years later, after Pugach got out of prison, the reunited and are now married.

It is one of those films that makes you love documenaries. Real people are always more bizzare and interesting than fictional ones ever could be.

Salamandyr said...

You know, if he's actually going to serve that time, it would actually be significant. It's assault and battery; assuming she did not sustain any long term injuries

I think a big problem with our justice system is, to satisfy our desire for retribution, we pass down these awful, long sentences (10, 15, 20, lifetime), but for various reasons we turn around and provide numerous ways to shorten those terms, good behavior, parole, half-way houses, etc. It seems this encourages the convicted to think not about the hard time they are doing, but about how they suckered us by getting us to take back our harsh sentence.

It seems to me that from a mental standpoint, to serve every day of a 5 year sentence would feel harsher than to serve 5 years of a 20 year sentence and be let of "for good behavior".

Salamandyr said...

accidentally left off the end of the first paragraph.

Should read "assuming she did not sustain any long term injuries, that sounds about right".

The Drill SGT said...

7 years doesnt sound completely unreasonable give:

- UK
- he was under stress
- stopped taking meds
- backed off of the crime and called 911 asking for help

dbp said...

7 years seems about right for attacking her, but not for attempted murder.

Had Ms. Wille successfully defended herself rather than Mr. Wille coming to his senses after 3 minutes, would this make a difference. Clearly one situation involves more of an attempt than the other.

Brian said...

This is the U.K. If she defended herself, would she have faced charges, too?

bearbee said...

...but I still want to be friends"

Is she a Quaker?

What happened to wives 1 & 2?

Fred4Pres said...

It is a huge mitigating factor given he stopped, called the police, admitted it and asked for help. It does not excuse it, but it is a factor in sentancing.

Seven years sounds about right, although beyond his wife being an idiot for wanting to stay friends with him there is really not a lot to say.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

It's really scary how Clockwork Orange is coming true.

William said...

I would recommend using a pillow in all cases of domestic violence. It just seems such a gentle way of murder. Golf clubs leave bruises and blood stains, and it is very difficult to get leverage and velocity when using them indoors. Chainsaws make an emphatic point, but they are noisy and messy. Plus you can be sure that their use will be brought up in the custody hearings....It must be said that this architect used tact and class in his choice of murder weapons.

Joseph said...

Judge Posner makes the case that long sentences don't make sense to the extent incapacitation (preventing the criminal from committing more crime) is the goal of the sentence. I tend to agree. He cites studies that men become much less likely to commit violent crimes past a certain age (40s)? If the goal is to prevent vigilanteism, that seems not to be a factor if the wife has forgiven him. If the goal is rehabilitation, I don't see much argument that he will be better reformed after he leaves if he has a sentence longer than that. Likewise, setting and example and deterring others from committing like crimes seems inapplicable both because of the kind of crime (passion) and the result (survival). In fact, one could argue that reducing his sentence would be good for deterring crime because it might encourage the would be murderer to stop midway. It seems like the only argument for a long sentence would be to satisfy the general public's bloodlust, which I don't think is a very good reason.

Bissage said...

I have been telling Mrs. Bissage regularly for years that she has my permission to shoot me in the back of the head anytime she likes so long as I don't know it's coming.

She thinks I'm joking.

vbspurs said...

In this vain Ann, I would highly reccomend the documentary Crazy Love.

Thanks for the tip, too, John! Found it, and will watch it.

Methadras said...

She's forgiving because she's fat.

former law student said...

She's forgiving because she's fat.

Considering their age difference, I wonder if she had been a hot babe when they met and married.

I suspect his unemployment is the root cause: he has nothing to do, and he's totally dependent on his wife. This can breed resentment. Her taking money out of his (?!) bank account reminded him of his powerlessness. He controls nothing.

Is the sentence long enough? At 56, 7 years is half his remaining life expectancy. He'll have plenty of time to reflect on how good he had it when his wife was the source of his support instead of HMG. Moreover, he should not be marriage material -- except for masochists -- when he gets out, so recidivism should not be an issue.

paul a'barge said...

More, with pic of the wife

Triangle Man said...

@FLS

I agree that he has plenty of time to reflect, but a 56 year old man in the UK can expect 24.6 years, not 14, according to WolframAlpha.

Paddy O said...

"Is she a Quaker?"

Ha! That made me laugh.

robinintn said...

England, Arkansas...Six or seven in one, nearly a half-dozen in the other.

Methadras said...

former law student said...

Considering their age difference, I wonder if she had been a hot babe when they met and married.


Naw, she's just fat. Fat girls will nearly and almost universally do anything for love and food or food and love. They see chocolate ice cream and comfort food in everything they do. She will take him back because he's the only one that wants her even though he tried to strangle her not once, but twice. She'll do it because she's fat.

kentuckyliz said...

Strangling is common in domestic abuse situations. It is impulsive, angry, interpersonal, and you get the satisfaction of choking the life out of the person you love/hate and feel them dying in your hands.

Those who downplay it including DV abused spouses call it choking.

Misnomer. Choking is when you have a piece of chicken caught in your windpipe and you need the Heimlich maneuver.

I witnessed a 911 tape of an impatient dispatcher insisting that the caller say what their problem was, please speak. After the caller wouldn't speak, the dispatcher hung up.

The caller was being strangled and couldn't speak and it was a miracle she could dial 911. She died from that attack.

If Clive did this to a stranger, it would be attempted murder.

But it's okay to smack your bitch up. It's even funny, especially when a woman does it to a man, using a golf club or other tool of his trade.

It's even funnier to laugh at those dumb ho's who keep going back for more, especially if they're fat.