Lisa03
09-03-2003, 10:57 AM
TROY, N.Y. -- A judge who said he had "no room for mercy" has sentenced a woman to 50 years to life in prison for drowning her 4-year-old son in a bathtub last year.
Christine Wilhelm, (pictured) was sentenced Wednesday in Troy to the maximum 25 years to life for killing Luke Wilhelm and another 25 years for attempting to drown his 5-year-old brother, who survived. The brother escaped from the tub.
The judge said he was showing Wilhelm the same mercy she showed Luke when she drowned him in their home last year.
Wilhelm -- who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic -- was convicted of murder and attempted murder in July.
Wilhelm, who's 39, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
A caseworker testified that Wilhelm told her she knew what she was doing was wrong and tried to resuscitate her son. But instead of calling for help, she put him back in the tub and killed him.
Wilhelm's husband has said she had stopped taking her medication and her mental state deteriorated.
Before her sentencing, her husband, Kenneth, wept as he gave his victim's statement.
The father said his son Luke would have started kindergarten Thursday. The father described the night Luke died as a "night from hell."
Christine Wilhelm, (pictured) was sentenced Wednesday in Troy to the maximum 25 years to life for killing Luke Wilhelm and another 25 years for attempting to drown his 5-year-old brother, who survived. The brother escaped from the tub.
The judge said he was showing Wilhelm the same mercy she showed Luke when she drowned him in their home last year.
Wilhelm -- who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic -- was convicted of murder and attempted murder in July.
Wilhelm, who's 39, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
A caseworker testified that Wilhelm told her she knew what she was doing was wrong and tried to resuscitate her son. But instead of calling for help, she put him back in the tub and killed him.
Wilhelm's husband has said she had stopped taking her medication and her mental state deteriorated.
Before her sentencing, her husband, Kenneth, wept as he gave his victim's statement.
The father said his son Luke would have started kindergarten Thursday. The father described the night Luke died as a "night from hell."