ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, Maryland (AP) -- A lieutenant colonel at the Army War College pleaded guilty Monday to killing his wife, saying he beat and strangled her as they fought about his use of the Internet to find pornography.

Lt. Col. David Bartlett Jr., 46, reached a plea deal with prosecutors in the slaying of his 39-year-old wife, Suzanne.

Bartlett pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder, the military equivalent of second-degree murder. Prosecutors -- who had charged him with premeditated murder -- dropped assault and obstruction of justice counts.

Bartlett, the former branch chief of the operations research group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole at sentencing next month.

According to Bartlett, the couple argued for several days after his wife discovered he had been viewing pornography on the Internet. On March 19, he said, he beat her with an iron pestle and strangled her with a computer cord after she harassed him, called him names and shoved him.

Bartlett told police she never returned from a walk, but her body was found floating in a creek.

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I guess I better throw away all my porn before someone gets hurt.  

Man, that's a depressing story.

She harrassed him, called him names and assaulted him.  I wonder if this would have been handled the same if it had been the WOMAN that had been harrassed, called names and shoved prior to committing murder...

Hmmm...

TRG

Yeah - according to the guy WHO KILLED HER!  

I guess it's easier to say that she attacked him, and he snapped, rather than maybe an alternative story where she threatens to expose his perversions to his clean-cut officer colleagues, and he then deliberately strangles her to shut her up - and HIDES her body in a creek.

I guess we'll never know.  I find either story believable, and don't know that I'll automatically believe the killer's version of events.


I totally agree with you that a woman might have an easier time making a "self-defense" argument, but then again, she would probably have had to shoot him or something - not knock him on the head and THEN strangle him.

So, you could say that infringing upon another persons First Amendment Rights could result in serious personal harm and or death.

"...and strangled her with a computer cord..."

oh, the irony.

Now he can surf all the porn he wants to in prison. Sad!

Never get between a man and his porn. [:D]

Wow...who would have thought that porn kill more than kittens?