77-year-old man pleads guilty, but mentally ill to beating wife to death with wrench

PITTSBURGH — A 77-year-old western Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to fatally beating his 71-year-old wife with a pipe wrench.

Joseph Manning, of Whitehall, told an Allegheny County judge he was suicidal when his wife saw him with a knife and tried to stop him from killing himself on March 31, 2012.

After beating Mary Manning, he walked outside with the knife hoping to die, telling the judge, "I had no intent of harming any officers at all. I wanted them, really, to shoot him."

Instead, police subdued Manning with a stun gun and found his wife dead in a recliner.   Under terms of Monday's plea to third-degree murder, Manning will be sentenced April 25 to up to 40 years in prison, where his attorney hopes Manning will receive mental health treatment.

WPXI