Man Gets One Year In Prison For Wife’s Drug-Related Death

A College Place, Wash., man was ordered to spend a year and a day in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the drug-related death of his wife.

Walla Walla County Superior Court Judge Robert Zagelow imposed the sentence Monday on Robert J. Middleworth, 32, who admitted in October that he didn’t stop his wife from using the methamphetamines that led to her death last January.

Middleworth originally was charged with controlled-substances homicide but was allowed to plead to the lesser charge as part of a plea agreement.

Joylee Middleworth, 29, became ill after taking the methamphetamines on Jan. 5, 1997, and was hospitalized after complaining of a severe headache.

She died four days later after Robert Middleworth consented to terminating her life support.

An autopsy revealed she had suffered a stroke, complicated by the acute methamphetamine intoxication.