ECHARD PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDERING WIFE IN RITCHIE

(12/18/2008)

A Ritchie County man who shot and killed his wife in his mother's Ritchie County home has pled guilty. William Echard, Jr., 43 (left) admitted to a charge of second-degree murder this week. Echard had been fighting with his wife in 2007 when he convinced his mother to go to bed. Pleasants County Prosecutor Tim Sweeney said, "The mother said that within five minutes the first thing she heard was a shot and then she heard a second shot. Echard then left the house and shot himself in the stomach. Seriously injured, he lost a kidney. Prosecutor Sweeney says Echard will be sentenced to the maximum 40 years in prison. "It prevents the family from having to go through the difficulty of trial and also eliminates the risk of a jury coming back with something less than that," he said.

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