WINONA, Minn. – A Dakota man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in what he described at the time as a mercy skilling of his ailing wife. Joseph Wright, 76, entered the plea as part of an agreement with the prosecutor that the maximum sentence be no more than10-1/2 years. Sentencing was scheduled for July 21. Wright has been in jail since his arrest at the couple’s apartment up County Road 12 from Dakota in July. He had called the Sheriff’s Office and reported that he had killed his wife. When deputies arrived, they found the body. They also saw that Wright himself had attempted suicide by cutting his wrist. There was a note that he couldn’t “watch her suffer.” She had dementia.
Wright. To receive credit for eight months already served in the county jail.