TONAWANDA, N.Y.- There's a push in Albany to close a loophole that allows a spouse to take control of their husband or wife's remains-- even if he or she is charged with that person's murder.
For Elaine O'Toole, the situation is very personal; her cousin, Constance Shepherd, 42, was found dead in her Tonawanda home in May 2009.
Her husband, Stephen Shepherd, 58, was charged with her murder. After pleading guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter, he is currently serving a 21-year sentence at Attica Correctional Facility.
But that didn't stop him from being the person with the final say on what would be done with his wife's remains. He decided to cremate her and bury her hundreds of miles away from his wife's family.
"We were just totally shocked that he would have still all the rights, even after you kill somebody, and you're being held because you're a suspect, you could still have the right to say what happens with the remains, with her body. It's just amazed me," said O'Toole.
O'Toole contacted State Senator Michael Ranzenhofer (R- 61st district) soon after her family's struggle; the lawmaker drafted legislation that would deny a person charged with a spouse's murder the right to take possession of his or her body. The law would also deny that right to anyone with a protection order filed against them.
"This is just really outrageous," said Ranzenhofer. "I'm just really out of my mind that this had never come up before, never been a problem, and that the law on the books just didn't protect families in this situation."
The legislation recently passed in the senate; next it will be up for review by the assembly before it would ultimately go to the governor's desk.
Both Ranzenhofer and O'Toole are hopeful it will be signed into law by December.
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