Saturday, January 14, 2012

Fairview Park, OH: Fairview Park man convicted for wife's murder

Peter Primeau claimed someone else severely beat his wife
By Tom Moore, Newsradio WTAM 1100

(Cleveland) -- A Fairview Park man was sentenced Friday to life in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years for the brutal beating death of his wife in 2011.

28-year-old Peter Primeau was sentenced after a jury in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court found him guilty of two counts of murder and one count of felonious assault. Judge Daniel Gaul gave Primeau the maximum possible sentence,and also fined him $15,000 plus court costs.

Police and prosecutors say that On March 11, 2011, Primeau beat his wife, 36-year-old Shinobu Higa, so badly that she never recovered. He took her from their apartment to the emergency room at Fairview Hospital claiming she had left home the night before and returned home in the morning badly beaten. Primeau said his wife had tried to sell herself for sex on West 25th Street, was thrown out of a vehicle, and took an RTA bus home.

Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor Steve Gall tells WTAM 1100 that medical personnel testified that they could tell the injuries were fairly fresh, and that they had not happened 24 hours earlier. Primeau also claimed that Higa refused to go to the hospital and he told hospital personnel that Higa did not speak English well, so she could not speak to hospital personnel or police. Gall says it was proven in trial that none of that was correct.

Higa died five days after she was taken to the hospital.

The couple met when Primeau served in the military in Okinawa.

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