By: Najla Alexander
Authorities in Atlantic County announced that on Tuesday, June 4, Marylue Wigglesworth, 53, of Mays Landing, entered a guilty plea in front of the Honorable Donna M. Taylor, J.S.C., to one count of second-degree manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of her husband, David Wigglesworth, in their home on Christmas Day in 2022.
The recommended sentence is six years in N.J.S.P., where the defendant will have to serve 85 percent of that sentence before being eligible for parole, officials said.
Officials stated that on December 25, 2022, at approximately 10:19 p.m., the Township of Hamilton Police Department responded to a residence on the 5200 block of Mays Landing Somers Point Rd. for an injured male.
According to officials, officers arrived to find the man, later identified as David Wigglesworth, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
Mr. Wigglesworth was pronounced deceased at the scene, officials say.
Authorities say the Southern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office completed an autopsy of David Wigglesworth and determined his cause of death to be a single gunshot wound, and the manner of death was deemed a homicide.
During the guilty plea, officials said, the defendant stated that before the shooting, she and her husband engaged in an argument.
Officials say the victim, David, physically assaulted the defendant and threatened her with a firearm that he kept in their bedroom.
Immediately following the threat, the defendant shot the victim with the firearm used in the assault, officials stated.
According to officials, officers investigating the homicide documented significant bruising throughout the defendant’s body following the homicide, consistent with being the victim of an assault.
The defendant will be sentenced on August 20, 2024, authorities say.