Man says wife's near-death experience meant to save marriage

mpls Star & Sickle ^ | 10-27-04 | ap

[Rakkasan1]

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- A man says he threw a live electrical wire into his wife's bath hoping a near-death experience would save their marriage.

William Dahlby said in court he was only trying to scare his wife the evening of May 9.

``At no time did I ever intend to kill or hurt my wife,'' said Dahlby, on trial for attempted first-degree intentional homicide and intimidation of a victim. ``I don't even know if that was possible.''

[Rakkasan1]

possibly the dumbest defense excuse ever.

...here's your sign.

[Fenris6]

"possibly the dumbest defense excuse ever."

especially considering the unpredictable nature of electricity. Even the S&M crowd advises against playing with it. ;)

[Moconservative]

He considered it "shock" therapy.

What a loser coming up with this defense.

[rickmichaels]

"I don't even know if that was possible."

Then perhaps he should have tested his theory on himself first.

[xJones]

At no time did I ever intend to kill or hurt my wife,'' said Dahlby

I wonder what he would have done if he had meant to hurt her?

[dansangel]

Just Damn nomination ping

[Cvengr]

Po'Man's Jacuzzi?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Possibly the most incompetent murder attempt also. This guy watches way too much TV. (With his luck he probably had it plugged into a GFI protected circuit anyway.)

Let's go over this again. Electricity and water don't mix. That being said, if you are sitting in the tub and someone throws in a radio that is plugged into the wall you are in very little danger provided you DO NOT GRAB THE APPLIANCE and attempt to lift it out of the tub. His wife was in no danger so long as she did not grab the wires. The danger of electrocution comes from completing a circuit to ground through your body. When you and the appliance are sitting in the water the current is perfectly happy to flow through the water to ground. When you lift it out of the water, it has to go through you to get to ground. (A GFI senses that the return current is not coming through the return wire and breaks the connect to the mains.)

I hate to give people advice on how to commit homicide, but if you need to electrocute someone sitting in a bathtub, connect a copper rod to the "hot" lead from a not-GFI-protected circuit (220 V is better than 110 V), Holding it with some insulating device, hand it to your victim, saying something like, "Hey lookit this!"

Just hope that Lt. Columbo doesn't notice the burn marks on the victim's hands.

You may want to test this idea on yourself first.

[DainBramage]

The electric chair will help him be a better husband.

[FormerACLUmember]

This neuron-challenged sociopath automatically and brazonly offers an excuse, any excuse, for his crimes.

We have a lot of these in America these days.

These criminals are also known as democrat party core voters: The Anti-Social Personality Disorder Party.

[eno_]

MY wife assures me the shoes aimed at my head (on about a monthly basis - gee, should I put a recurring event in Outlook?) are a sign of affection.

[netmilsmom]

>>Let's go over this again. Electricity and water don't mix. That being said, if you are sitting in the tub and someone throws in a radio that is plugged into the wall you are in very little danger provided you DO NOT GRAB THE APPLIANCE and attempt to lift it out of the tub. His wife was in no danger so long as she did not grab the wires. The danger of electrocution comes from completing a circuit to ground through your body. When you and the appliance are sitting in the water the current is perfectly happy to flow through the water to ground. When you lift it out of the water, it has to go through you to get to ground. (A GFI senses that the return current is not coming through the return wire and breaks the connect to the mains.)<<

Thank you!!!
That is a predone homeschool science lesson.
Of course it will not be a hands on experiment!

[bdfromlv]

Mythbusters on cable did an episode on this method and proved that it works well and quickly if done properly with salts in the bath and the appliance with a heating element.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Who'd they kill?

[mombonn]

What a romantic - a walk, a long motorcycle ride, drew her a bath, . . . so far, so good.

Foreplay was good, the main event a real shocker.

[FITZ]

``At no time did I ever intend to kill or hurt my wife,'' said Dahlby

Then how would it be a near-death experience?

[January24th]

Like he's never seen a Daffy Duck cartoon? Foghorn Leghorn? Bugs Bunny fer cryin' out loud?

[Larry Lucido]

Yea, but don't hurt him. Just flick it on and off a few times.

[January24th]

Bwahahahaha!!!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

In most appliances the hot and return wire are about 0.5" (13 mm) apart, separated by air. The current would much rather negotiate half an inch of salt water than several inches of salt water then somehow flow through your thoractic cavity, back through several inches of water to return. It's just possible that if you were in a salt water bath and someone threw a not-GFI-protected radio in that was connected to a 200 amp fuse you might just feel a tingling sensation.

Let's examine the execution of William Kimmler, who was executed with 20,000 Volts!

The head and spinal electrodes each consisted of a 4 inch diameter wooden cup, containing a three inch diameter metal plate faced with a layer of sponge which was soaked in brine to improve conductivity.
Kemmler was strapped into the chair by leather straps around his arms legs and waist. The head electrode, in a leather harness, was applied and a black cloth was pulled over his face. The warden, Charles Durston, gave the signal to Edwin Davis, the executioner, to throw the switch which caused Kemmler to go completely rigid.
He remained in this condition for seventeen seconds until the current was turned off and then his whole body appeared to relax. He was certified dead, but after half a minute there were a series of spasmodic movements of the chest which tended to indicate that he was not, in fact, dead and the warden ordered a second charge of electricity which lasted about seventy seconds until vapor and later smoke could be seen rising from the spinal electrode accompanied by the smell of burning flesh.
At this point the current was again switched off and the body carefully examined. There were no signs of life and Kemmler was dead. Not everyone was impressed by the "humanity" of the new method and an expert interviewed for the New York Times said that the execution was "an awful botch, Kemmler was literally roasted to death".