New York’s Oldest Inmate to be Released
New York’s oldest inmate, an 89-year-old former physician with terminal cancer, has been granted parole.
At one time Charles Friedgood was a wealthy surgeon, the New York Times reports. He was convicted of murdering his wife in 1976 after police arrested him at the airport with $450,000 from her estate. Friedgood had signed his wife’s death certificate himself, saying the cause of death was stroke and sending her body out of state for burial. Prosecutors said he was on his way to see his lover in Europe.
Friedgood told the New York Times in a September interview that he caused his ailing wife’s death by giving her too much Demerol, but he didn’t intend to kill her.
Friedgood was represented by one of his daughters, lawyer Esther Zaretsky. The parole panel said its decision was based on Friedgood’s age, his medical condition, and his record in prison where he provided emergency medical assistance to a guard and an inmate.
He is expected to be freed in December.
