Transgender woman pleads guilty of exercising husband to dea
Christine Newton-John Geauga County Jail
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/20...ewton_john.jpg
An elderly Ohio man was "exercised to death" by his transgendered wife - who forced him to swim even as he gasped for breath, authorities said.
Christine Newton-John, 41, pleaded guilty last week to reckless homicide in the death of James Mason, 73, and could get five years in prison.
Cops said she was caught on video dragging her frail hubby around the pool in their apartment complex, stopping him from getting out 43 times.
"The man was exercised to death," Middlefield Police Chief Joseph Stehlik told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"The video is bone-chilling," he said. "The whole case is very sinister. My personal feeling is that what she did was more intentional than reckless.
"This is a case that could just slip through the cracks."
It didn't because Stehlik's deputy became suspicious after Mason's June 2 heart attack, recalling that he'd investigated previous allegations of abuse.
A police officer noticed a surveillance camera above the pool and retrieved the tape - which showed Mason struggling to breathe during the marathon swim session.
A grand jury indicted Newton-John on reckless homicide, and she pleaded guilty Thursday.
"You can see the man struggling for his life on the tape, but there is no audio, so we couldn't hear what he was saying," prosecutor David Joyce told the newspaper, explaining why he didn't pursue a murder rap.
Newton-John's lawyer declined comment.
The suspect was born a male, named John Vallandingham, but underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1993 and took a new name in honor of singer Olivia Newton-John.
Mason knew Vallandingham's family for years. They got married in 2006 in Kentucky, which recognizes such unions as legal, officials said.
The marriage was troubled, authorities said.
"I think he was victimized for years by her," Stehlik said.
Before her arrest, Newton-John had the gumption to threaten the owner of the apartment complex with a lawsuit over Mason's death.
Peter Demopoulos, a private investigator hired by the landlord, said Newton-John is getting off easy. "Considering what she did, it seems like she faces a pretty light sentence," he said. "That tape is startling."
One of the HA readers gave me this to post, it's a few weeks old but still wow................
Wow @ them considering that a TS, that's Michael Chiklis in a wig!!!!!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...aelchiklis.jpg
