Idaho man who killed pregnant wife seeks new sentence

Fri., Sept. 16, 2011

MOSCOW, Idaho — A North Idaho man serving up to 40 years in prison for the death of his pregnant wife and their unborn child wants a new sentencing.

Silas Parks filed a petition in Idaho’s 2nd District Court earlier this week.

Parks contends his sentence is cruel and unusual. He also argues in his motion that his attorneys gave him inadequate legal representation and that it’s possible his wife’s death was an accident, the Lewiston Tribune reports.

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the newspaper Wednesday he was disappointed with the petition because Parks appeared to have accepted responsibility for the death of his wife and unborn child when pleading guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and arson.

Parks originally faced two counts of murder, but he pleaded guilty to lesser charges in 2010 as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Parks was 25 years old when prosecutors say he strangled or suffocated a pregnant Sarah Parks, who was a 28-year-old school teacher, and then set fire to their Moscow home in 2009. An autopsy found that Sarah Parks was dead when the fire started.

Parks was ordered to serve at least 20 years of a 40-year prison sentence, which was the maximum allowable.

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