Man pleads guilty in wife's slaying

• A Portland man has pleaded guilty to murder in his wife's March 18 stabbing death.
• Richard Straley, 53, will face a maximum 65-year prison term when sentenced on June 22.
• Straley's public defenders said he was entering the guilty plea "against our advice."
• Attorney Robert Beymer said he had hoped to prove his client was guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

PORTLAND – Against the wishes of his defense attorneys, a Portland man has pleaded guilty to murder in the March stabbing death of his wife.

Richard A. Straley, 53, entered his guilty plea Tuesday in Jay Circuit Court. He will face a maximum 65-year prison term when he is sentenced by Judge Brian Hutchison on June 22.

Jay County Prosecutor Wesley Schemenaur agreed to drop a charge accusing Straley of being a habitual offender.

Public defenders Robert Beymer and Joelle Freiburger told the judge Straley was pleading guilty "against our advice," Beymer said Thursday.

"He just wanted to get it over with," the attorney said. "He felt guilty."

Authorities said Straley stabbed his 58-year-old wife, Connie, in the neck during a March 18 argument in their home, at 719 S. Shank St.

The mortally wounded woman staggered to a neighbor's apartment and collapsed. She was later pronounced dead at Jay County Hospital.

According to an affidavit, Richard Straley, wearing blood-drenched clothes, was seated at a picnic table when officers arrived, and asked, "I killed her, didn't I?"

Beymer said he had been hopeful he could prove his client had acted in sudden heat and was guilty of voluntary manslaughter, not murder.

Straley had been insistent on entering a guilty plea from the outset of the case, he said.

The Portland man has prior convictions for burglary (in Adams County in 1993) and battery resulting in bodily injury (in Jay County in 2003).

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.