WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man who killed his wife to collect life insurance.
The court voted 3-2 on Wednesday to uphold 49-year-old Gary W. Ploof's sentence in the 2001 shooting death of 29-year-old wife Heidi Ploof.
Gary Ploof was a staff sergeant stationed at Dover Air Force base when his wife's body was found in her car in a parking lot in Dover. She had been shot in the head.
Prosecutors allege Ploof killed his wife to collect on a $100,000 life insurance policy.
The News Journal of Wilmingtonreports that in appealing his death sentence, Ploof's lawyers argued that his trial attorney did not present evidence that Ploof had been physically abused as a child.
