PITTSBURGH, PA — A man accused of murdering his wife has been charged with forging documents to steal a cemetery plot so he could be buried beside her.
Bedford County District Attorney William Higgins contends the alleged scam is 39-year-old John Gerholt’s latest effort to harass his late wife, Karen, and her relatives.
“I’ve never seen somebody so persistent with somebody they killed, trying to torment them after they’ve killed them. Isn’t that enough?” Higgins said.
Gerholt’s defense attorney, Thomas Dickey, denied that his client is harassing his late wife’s family.
“This is just another sign of his true love and devotion to his wife, albeit deceased,” Dickey said.
Gerholt is accused of shooting his 24-year-old wife twice with a sawed-off shotgun as she left for a break at the McDonald’s where she worked near Everett, about 90 miles east of Pittsburgh.
Dickey claims the Nov. 9, 2008, shooting was accidental. Higgins calls that “inconsistent,” because he contends the gun would have to be cocked between the first and second shots.
Gerholt is charged with murder and awaiting trial. Higgins is pursuing the death penalty because Karen Gerholt had a protection-from-abuse order against her husband, and because John Gerholt allegedly endangered others outside the restaurant.
Gerholt, of Mount Union, was already jailed when the forgery and theft charges were filed Friday.
SOUCE: San Francisco Chronicle
Posted on November 20th, 2009 at 6:06 am by Lin McNulty
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