Children ask mercy for man who killed wife

CHICAGO, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- An 85-year-old Chicago man who killed his wife should be allowed to live out his life in peace, not prison, the couple's three children said.

Charles Smith was charged with first-degree murder in the March 3 shooting of his wife of 54 years, Betty, who had suffered from dementia for more than a decade, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

The couple's children call Smith a dedicated caregiver who couldn't have known what he was doing.

"We don't know what happened. We weren't in the house," the eldest son, Lewis, 54, told the Tribune. "But we know our mother and father."

Prosecutors contend Smith shot his wife, 89, in the face with a .38-caliber handgun after a late-night argument. Smith then called 911.

Smith refused to put his wife in a nursing home, despite her severe dementia, said their daughter Betty Smith-Peyton, 51.

"He felt no one could take care of her like he could," Smith-Peyton said to the newspaper.