Wife exercised man to his death

The Daily Telegraph

15 February 2009

AN elderly man was "exercised to death" by his wife - who forced him to swim even as he gasped for breath.

Christine Newton-John, 41, has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide after her 73-year-old husband James Mason died after being forced to swim to the point that he suffered a heart attack.

Surveillance video footage showed Newton-John, a transgender, pulling Mason around the pool by his arms and legs, Middlefield police Chief Joseph Stehlik said.

He said he counted 43 times in which Newton-John prevented her husband from leaving the water.

Mason rested his head on the side of the pool several times while gasping for breath.

"The man was exercised to death," Chief Stehlik said.

"The video is bone-chilling. The whole case is very sinister."

Mason had a heart attack on June 2 after the extended swim session.

Mason had been a longtime friend of his wife's family.

He knew her as John Vallandingham before she had gender reassignment surgery in 1993 and changed her name in honour of Olivia Newton-John, the singer and star of the hit movie Grease.

The couple were wed in 2006 in Kentucky, where people can change their gender on their birth certificate.

But authorities said the marriage was troubled and Mason was subjected to years of abuse.

"I think he was victimised for years by her," Chief Stehlik said.

An officer who had investigated previous complaints that Mason was being abused pursued the case because he suspected there was more to the death, Chief Stehlik said.

Newton-John was charged with her husband's death last week and pleaded guilty. She faces up to five years in prison.

The video would have had a profound effect on a jury, Geauga County prosecutor David Joyce said.

But that would not have been enough for a conviction if Newton-John had been charged with murder.

"You can see the man struggling for his life on the tape, but there is no audio, so we couldn't hear what he was saying," Mr Joyce said.

Before her arrest, Newton-John had the gumption to threaten the owner of the apartment complex with a lawsuit over Mason's death.