Despite assisted suicide being legal in several US states, it is still not possible in Florida. As a result, a grandmother and her long-term husband entered into a murder-suicide pact, and she has been jailed for following through on the mercy killing.
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Ellen Gilland had met her husband when they were in eighth grade and had been lifetime partners ever since. Their bond was unbreakable, and they had agreed to never let the other suffer. So, when it transpired that her husband was very sick, she intended to fulfill a promise they had made weeks before.
Gilland brought a gun into her husband's care home. It was with this that she planned to take him out of his misery. Initially, the plan had been for her husband to kill his wife and then to kill himself, but he was too weak to hold the weapon. It all came down to her.
According to the elderly grandmother, her husband had helped her in killing himself. "I held the gun behind his ear. I pulled it away and asked him if he was sure,' Ellen Gilland told the court, choking back tears. "He raised his hand, and placed it on my arm and pushed the gun to his head. There was a loud bang - and he was gone."
Due to the fact she had a weapon, an active shooter emergency was declared, and a stand-off began. The grandmother let off another shot, but nobody else was harmed. She was eventually taken into custody.
Grandmother Receives Harsh Sentence For Mercy Killing Of Husband
There was no denial of her act of mercy from Ellen Gilland. Her teary statement explained why she did what she did and showed no signs of regret. She took the life of her partner as an act of love.
As a result, she received a year in prison. However, her family feels that the sentence is too harsh. The killing of her husband had been an agreement between two consenting adults. Her niece spoke out about the sentencing. "She didn't hurt anyone in public, and she never would. She never had any intention of harming anyone else."
Her niece feels that a year in prison isn't relative to the crime, stating that people receive less for more. "There are drunk drivers in the state who have killed people, and they've got less time than her." But, the judge has spoken, and this grandmother will now spend a year in prison for killing her terminally ill husband.
