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Judge Gives New York Mother Maximum Sentence
Aired September 09, 2003 - 13:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to go back to upstate New York. That is where a judge has given the mother, Christine Wilhelm, the maximum sentence this hour for drowning her 4-year-old in a bathtub. The case is drawing some painful parallels to the Andrea Yates case in Texas.
Our national correspondent, Gary Tuchman, joins us from Troy, New York.
We heard a lot of emotional things over the last hour, Gary. Namely, we have heard her husband, the father of the son, give a victim's impact statement. And the judge sounded like he was getting choked up when he was reading the sentence for Christine Wilhelm.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, there is nothing harder than sitting through and watching and listening to a murder trial involving a child, particularly when it's a parent accused of killing their child, and now in this case, convicted of killing that child.
And that's what happened to Christine Wilhelm, convicted in July, and today the judge said, "I have no room for mercy," and sentenced her to the maximum, two charges, murder and the attempted murder of her other son, 50 years to life in prison, a possibility of parole in 46 years.
But we saw the potential for violence in Christine Wilhelm. When she left the court just a short time ago, a policewoman was taking her arm inside the court, and Christine Wilhelm yanked her arm away and said, "Don't take my arm!" And then, the police officer took her arm again. She yanked it away and said, "Don't take my arm!" And then, she went to the back of the courtroom and she yelled to everyone in the courtroom, "Liars, you are all liars!"
And before that, Christine Wilhelm was given a chance to address the judge, and she was much calmer about 10 minutes before that, she said -- quote -- "I just want to thank everybody for knowing how sick I really was."
Her attorneys did say she was a diagnosed schizophrenic. She did not know right from wrong when she tried to drown her two children. One of her children got away; the other one was drowned.
However, the jury did not buy it. The seven women and five men on the jury found her guilty of murdering her son, Luke, and attempting to murder her son, Peter. Now, her husband, Ken Wilhelm, did not support his wife, unlike the Andrea Yates case where you had Russell Yates supporting his wife, and he was given a chance today to make a victim impact statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNETH WILHELM, BOYS' FATHER: This was a night from hell for Peter and for Luke, and eventually myself.
Luke was a happy, healthy boy, who had just turned 4 years old a month prior to this. He was a boy who was full of life and energy and love and a great heart for many people whom he had met only a few times.
He used to run to me when I would get home from work and say, "Dad, I was worried about you." I know when it's my time to meet up with him again, he'll come running to me and say exactly that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Both boys trusted her to love and to protect them, as did I, but what she did was our trust to kill, hurt and deceive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Now, Christine Wilhelm had said during the trial that one of the reasons she wanted to kill her two children was because her husband was abusing them. We must point out there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever offered that in any way, shape or form was true.
Now, as hard as this was to watch today, it was actually much harder to watch (UNINTELLIGIBLE) day in July, when the little boy who survived, little Peter, 5 years old, now 6 years old, testified before the jury.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER WILHELM, SURVIVED DROWNING ATTEMPT: Mom tried to drown me because she had a sickness in her mind, and she didn't take her whole medication. So, she had that problem and she tried to drown me, but instead she drowned my brother two times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Peter said that after he escaped from the tub, he didn't know what to do. He went upstairs to his bedroom and watched a video, "The Snow Queen." He was so confused and bewildered that's all he did, he says.
We should tell you the public defender during the sentencing hearing right now says there is only one reason that Christine Wilhelm did what she did, because she was insane, and asked the judge for mercy. But as we said, the judge said there was no room for mercy, maximum sentence for Christine Wilhelm, murderer of her own child.
Daryn -- back to you.
KAGAN: I guess not much more you can add to that. Case closed.
Gary Tuchman in Troy, New York, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 9, 2003 - 13:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to go back to upstate New York. That is where a judge has given the mother, Christine Wilhelm, the maximum sentence this hour for drowning her 4-year-old in a bathtub. The case is drawing some painful parallels to the Andrea Yates case in Texas.
Our national correspondent, Gary Tuchman, joins us from Troy, New York.
We heard a lot of emotional things over the last hour, Gary. Namely, we have heard her husband, the father of the son, give a victim's impact statement. And the judge sounded like he was getting choked up when he was reading the sentence for Christine Wilhelm.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, there is nothing harder than sitting through and watching and listening to a murder trial involving a child, particularly when it's a parent accused of killing their child, and now in this case, convicted of killing that child.
And that's what happened to Christine Wilhelm, convicted in July, and today the judge said, "I have no room for mercy," and sentenced her to the maximum, two charges, murder and the attempted murder of her other son, 50 years to life in prison, a possibility of parole in 46 years.
But we saw the potential for violence in Christine Wilhelm. When she left the court just a short time ago, a policewoman was taking her arm inside the court, and Christine Wilhelm yanked her arm away and said, "Don't take my arm!" And then, the police officer took her arm again. She yanked it away and said, "Don't take my arm!" And then, she went to the back of the courtroom and she yelled to everyone in the courtroom, "Liars, you are all liars!"
And before that, Christine Wilhelm was given a chance to address the judge, and she was much calmer about 10 minutes before that, she said -- quote -- "I just want to thank everybody for knowing how sick I really was."
Her attorneys did say she was a diagnosed schizophrenic. She did not know right from wrong when she tried to drown her two children. One of her children got away; the other one was drowned.
However, the jury did not buy it. The seven women and five men on the jury found her guilty of murdering her son, Luke, and attempting to murder her son, Peter. Now, her husband, Ken Wilhelm, did not support his wife, unlike the Andrea Yates case where you had Russell Yates supporting his wife, and he was given a chance today to make a victim impact statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNETH WILHELM, BOYS' FATHER: This was a night from hell for Peter and for Luke, and eventually myself.
Luke was a happy, healthy boy, who had just turned 4 years old a month prior to this. He was a boy who was full of life and energy and love and a great heart for many people whom he had met only a few times.
He used to run to me when I would get home from work and say, "Dad, I was worried about you." I know when it's my time to meet up with him again, he'll come running to me and say exactly that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Both boys trusted her to love and to protect them, as did I, but what she did was our trust to kill, hurt and deceive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Now, Christine Wilhelm had said during the trial that one of the reasons she wanted to kill her two children was because her husband was abusing them. We must point out there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever offered that in any way, shape or form was true.
Now, as hard as this was to watch today, it was actually much harder to watch (UNINTELLIGIBLE) day in July, when the little boy who survived, little Peter, 5 years old, now 6 years old, testified before the jury.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER WILHELM, SURVIVED DROWNING ATTEMPT: Mom tried to drown me because she had a sickness in her mind, and she didn't take her whole medication. So, she had that problem and she tried to drown me, but instead she drowned my brother two times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Peter said that after he escaped from the tub, he didn't know what to do. He went upstairs to his bedroom and watched a video, "The Snow Queen." He was so confused and bewildered that's all he did, he says.
We should tell you the public defender during the sentencing hearing right now says there is only one reason that Christine Wilhelm did what she did, because she was insane, and asked the judge for mercy. But as we said, the judge said there was no room for mercy, maximum sentence for Christine Wilhelm, murderer of her own child.
Daryn -- back to you.
KAGAN: I guess not much more you can add to that. Case closed.
Gary Tuchman in Troy, New York, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
