Saving You Money For Life

An Idaho man convicted of killing his wife by poisoning her with sleeping pills and drain cleaner has appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court to help him collect on her life insurance. The murderer himself was not present in court Wednesday because he is serving a life sentence in prison. But his attorney has argued that the killer should get half the payout of his wife’s $200,000 policy under Idaho’s community property laws.

Under Idaho’s ‘slayer statute,’ a person convicted of killing another cannot receive any benefits, including collecting on a life insurance policy, from the victim’s death. Idaho’s 4th District Court ruled last year that the insurance money should go to the wife’s estate. But because Mary Severson’s policy was paid for with communal funds from their marriage, half the proceeds belong to the convict regardless of whether he killed her, according to his defense attorney.

“This isn’t an insurance policy recovery case,” says the lawyer. “This is a case of someone trying to recover their own property.”

The fact is that even if the murderer were to win the case, because he is insolvent the funds recouped would go to the selfsame attorney as partial payment of his legal fees. The attorney readily admits that he’s representing his former criminal client in the suit in hopes of recouping some of his legal fees. The suit is being contested by the murdered woman’s mother.

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