Man Pleads No Contest In Wife's 1993 Drowning Death
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A man accused of drowning his wife entered a plea right before the trial was to begin Tuesday.
Jon Lang, 55, was supposed to stand trial for the death of his wife, Debbie.
She drowned in the family's pool in Beaver County in 1993.
Her death was originally ruled an accident, but last November, a witness came forward, which prompted a coroner's inquest.
Today, Lang agreed to plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three to six years in jail.
On Friday, 35-year-old Jamie Darlington testified he saw Jon Lang drown his wife in their Patterson Township pool.
Darlington was 16-years-old at the time, and his testimony was enough for a Beaver County district judge to order Lang to stand trial in the death of Debbie Lang.
From an upstairs window, Darlington said he saw Jon Lang push his wife into the pool and keep her submerged with a pool scraper and watched her struggle underwater.
When Jon Lang looked up, Darlington says he ducked because he was scared and that when Lang came back inside, he told Darlington, "You didn't hear anything and you didn't see nothing," according to Darlington's testimony.
RELATED LINKS
Find Out More About This Case
More Beaver County News
More Reports From Harold Hayes