Canandaigua Man's Parole Denied

A parole board has rejected early release for a former engineer imprisoned for killing his wife by sending their minivan over the edge of a 160-foot cliff. Walter Casper III had his murder conviction reduced on appeal to manslaughter last summer, but drew a maximum sentence of five years to 15 years when he was re-sentenced in January. Since Casper had already served more than seven years, he was allowed to immediately seek parole. But a three-member state Division of Parole panel decided that "your lack of insight is a great concern ... and leaves us with little confidence in your ability to lead a law-abiding life." Provided Casper continues to show good behavior in prison, he could be freed in June 2010.

Casper told friends he took his wife, Catherine Bly-Casper, out for a surprise breakfast in July 1999 and pulled off the road at Grimes Glen near their destination in the village of Naples in western New York. Prosecutors said Casper put the minivan in gear and threw himself out of the rolling vehicle moments before it plummeted into the gorge. Bly-Casper was thrown from the vehicle and killed. Photographs from a family vacation were left scattered in the gorge. The defense argued that the minivan rolled accidentally after Casper had gotten out to relieve himself, and that he watched helplessly as it plunged over the cliff with his wife screaming inside. The couple's two sons, then aged 10 and 12, ended up living with their late mother's family.