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Caregiver gets probation in pill case

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By TODD LESKANIC

tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: August 26, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - John McKim told investigators he gave his ailing wife, Claire, three sleeping pills in hopes she would never wake up.

He then planned to take his own life.

McKim, 70, wrote a note to his wife's children saying that she "has suffered enough pain and problems, and we cannot take anymore any longer." The note also had a burial request.

But that November morning, John McKim changed his mind and called his wife's doctor. The call likely helped avert disaster for one or both of the McKims.

It may have also saved John McKim from more serious criminal consequences.

Monday, he pleaded guilty to felony battery in exchange for a sentence of five years' probation. He was fined $2,500 and is to have no contact with his wife of 22 years for the duration of his probation.

The nature of Claire McKim's health problems weren't clear, but her husband was her primary caregiver at the time.

Prosecutors had charged John McKim with attempted second-degree murder, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Instead, Assistant State Attorney Chris Jensen and McKim's attorney, Sean Kelley, worked out a deal that allowed John McKim to plead guilty to the lesser charge. He also did not receive an adjudication of guilt, meaning the charge will be dismissed if he successfully completes probation.

"A huge amount of depression is what spurred this," Kelley said later.

"I don't think John McKim was in his right mind. I think he called Claire McKim's doctor because he was worried that she may have had an overdose of sleeping pills and he wanted to make sure she wouldn't pass from them. There was no injury. She was drowsy, and when paramedics showed up she had coherent conversation with them."

Although Claire McKim said in her deposition that her husband also cut her with a knife, witnesses said they didn't see any apparent knife wounds. Claire McKim's doctor at the time, Richard Wacksman, testified in his deposition that Restoril, the medication John McKim gave to his wife, wouldn't have killed her.

Claire McKim, 70, did not appear at her husband's plea hearing. Kathy Cornwell, a victim's advocate for the Area Agency on Aging, said Claire McKim remains "deathly afraid" of her husband and does not want to see him. Claire McKim lives at a confidential address; John McKim lives in a retirement facility.

The home the McKims lived in at the time of the incident - 3300 Hearthstone Court, Holiday - is inhabited by Claire McKim's son and his family.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (813) 731-8098.

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