WALKER, Mich. (AP) — A judge has put on hold the scheduled prison release of a former Michigan nursing home aide who pleaded guilty to smothering five patients in a pact with her lover.
WOOD-TV reports that Kent County Judge Joseph Rossi issued a stay Tuesday. Catherine Wood was set to be released on Wednesday.
The 57-year-old Wood has spent nearly 30 years in prison for second-degree murder in the 1987 slayings at a nursing home in Walker, near Grand Rapids. She was sentenced to 20 to 40 years.
Attorney John Engman filed a petition to keep Wood in prison. Engman was a son-in-law to victim Mae Mason.
WOOD-TV reports that Rossi has 28 days from the petition filing to make a final decision on Wood's release.
Gwendolyn Graham was sentenced to life with no chance for parole.
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Information from: WOOD-TV, http://www.woodtv.com
