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John Wise walked into his wife's room in the intensive care unit at Akron General Medical Center on Aug. 4, 2012, kissed her, and shot her once in the head, according to police and court testimony. Barbara Wise, his wife of 45 years, died the next day.

Barbara Wise, 65, had suffered triple cerebral aneurysms about a week earlier and was left unable to speak, according to trial testimony. John Wise, 68, of Massillon, told police he acted out of love and had intended to kill himself afterward, but his handgun malfunctioned, prosecutors said.

Dispatchers took several 911 calls from inside the hospital in the moments after the shooting, including one from a staff member, according to recordings of the emergency calls. Wise was arrested at the scene without incident.

A note found in the hospital room said the shooting was done "with love" and for "good and honorable" reasons, according to testimony, and indicated that the couple had agreed years earlier not to let each other live "as veggies with no quality of life."

Wise pursued an insanity defense at trial. A psychologist testified that he had shown signs of depression and post-traumatic stress. A physician called by prosecutors testified that Barbara Wise was not terminally ill, was in stable condition and appeared to be responding to treatment.

A Summit County jury found Wise guilty of aggravated murder in November 2013. On Dec. 13, 2013, Common Pleas Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands sentenced him to six years in prison, imposing the term on a felonious assault count with a firearm specification at the prosecution's request rather than a possible life sentence on the murder conviction.

Wise died about seven months into his sentence, on July 14, 2014, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. He had been serving his term at a prison medical center in Columbus and died of cardiac arrest, officials said.