Aug 1, 2013 2 min read

I wonder if the attorney for Robert Ferrante, the University of Pittsburgh researcher accused of providing his wife, Autumn Klein, with a lethal dose of cyanide realizes how ludicrous is his outrage over the manner in which his client was apprehended.

Counsel expressed contempt for the strong police presence to nab the accused murderer, asserting that it was a colossal waste of money. The amount of money expended to arrest the suspect will pale in comparison to the millions that are spent to try him and to imprison him for the rest of his life should he be convicted. I am thankful that police in the state of West Virginia took the matter of the murder of an innocent person seriously enough to provide a strong police presence to assure the easy and efficient capture of the defendant.

Another irony in the case is that Ferrante took action to express his supposed love and concern for the couple’s daughter, including arranging his estate to ensure that she will derive significant benefit. If he committed this crime, he will have caused the daughter that he purports to love to become an orphan for all intents and purposes, an odd way to express affection.

Further worthy of note are the bizarre, incriminating actions of the alleged killer, having allegedly apprised a co-worker of his need for cyanide to be delivered overnight, speaking of his wife in the past tense at the hospital after her collapse, and declining to attend her memorial service.

It would appear that the despicable tenet of “If I can’t have her, nobody will” extends beyond rural gun fanatics and into the world of distinguished scientists, who use more high-tech means to kill.

Oren Spiegler

Upper St. Clair