Tuesday, May 25, 1999
Insanity defense changed to guilty
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — In an agreement that spared him up to 13 more years in prison, a Procter & Gamble Co. lab technician scrapped an insanity defense and pleaded guilty Monday to the attempted murder of his wife.
The deal came minutes before Philip Cothran, 48, of Deerfield Township was to go on trial on charges of attempted murder, felonious assault, kidnapping and child endangering in the Feb. 6 brutal knife attack on Terri Cothran.
The rest of the charges were dropped in exchange for the plea on attempted murder.
Refusing to say anything on his own behalf before sentence was passed, Mr. Cothran stood somberly with his hands clasped on a lectern as Judge P. Daniel Fedders ordered him to prison for seven years.
Prosecutors had recommended the seven-year sentence, even though the charge carries a prison term of up to 10 years. Had he gone to trial and been found guilty of all charges, Mr. Cothran could have spent two decades in prison. He can petition the court for early release in five years.
As he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs and a business suit, Mr. Cothran calmly told his lawyer he wanted a Bible. He had been out of jail since March, living with a son in Harrison after posting a $250,000 bond.
Authorities said Mr. Cothran, who was suffering from depression, attacked his 40-year-old wife late Feb. 6 as she lay in bed next to him at their home on Shadowridge Drive.
He stabbed her in the neck and chest, and as they fell to the floor he continued the assault even though Mrs. Cothran begged for her life, Warren County Assistant Prosecutor James Beaton said Monday.
“(Mrs. Cothran) asked him to stop and get her help, and he acknowledged to her that he was trying to kill her,” Mr. Beaton said.
Police said earlier that Mr. Cothran, who had locked the couple's twin 3-year-old daughters in their bedroom, waited until he thought Mrs. Cothran was dead before going to the garage and trying to asphyxiate himself in the couple's van.
Mrs. Cothran escaped the next morning when her husband went into the garage. The girls were not harmed.
Despite the plea, Mr. Rittgers maintained Monday that his client was temporarily insane when he tried to kill his wife. Mr. Cothran agreed to the plea because the insanity defense was risky, Mr. Rittgers said.
National research has shown that 26 percent of all insanity pleas are successful in court.
“He just snapped,” Mr. Rittgers said. “Just think how desperate a man must be when he tried to commit suicide afterward.”
Mrs. Cothran filed for divorce three weeks after the incident. She did not attend the hearing, but Mr. Beaton said she agreed to the plea bargain.
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