Transgender woman pleads guilty of exercising husband to death

An elderly Ohio man was "exercised to death" by his transgendered wife - who forced him to swim even as he gasped for breath, authorities said.

Christine Newton-John, 41, pleaded guilty last week to reckless homicide in the death of James Mason, 73, and could get five years in prison.

Police said she was caught on video dragging her frail hubby around the pool in their apartment complex, stopping him from getting out 43 times.



"The man was exercised to death," Middlefield Police Chief Joseph Stehlik said.

"The video is bone-chilling," he said. "The whole case is very sinister. My personal feeling is that what she did was more intentional than reckless."

A grand jury indicted Newton-John on reckless homicide, and she pleaded guilty on Thursday.