A South Carolina woman has admitted poisoning her husband to death by putting Visine eye drops into his water over three days in 2018.
On Thursday, Lana Sue Clayton, 53, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, according to The Associated Press.
Clayton was initially charged with murder and other counts in Stephen Delvalle Clayton’s death. The couple lived in Clover, South Carolina, in July of that year, NBC affiliate WCNC of Charlotte reported.
Stephen Clayton’s autopsy showed poisonous levels of tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant used to relieve redness in the eyes, in his body, the York County Sheriff’s Office said. Stephen Clayton was 64.
Lana Clayton was arrested the following month and confessed. She charged her husband was abusive, but “I just did it to make him uncomfortable,” she said in court. “I never thought it would kill him.”
"What a tangled web we weave," Judge Paul M. Burch said at Thursday's court hearing, according to WCNC. "Ms. Clayton, you sure have tangled this one up."
“How can you maintain you did this to teach him a lesson, when it is obvious from the facts that you let him suffer for three days,” Burch told Clayton in court. “You ignored him.”
“After finding out the Visine was the cause of death, I attempted to take my life as well,” Lana Clayton said in court. “I couldn’t live with the thought that I did such a terrible thing.”
Clayton’s lawyers cited her previous job as a Veterans Affairs nurse in Charlotte. They also said Lana Clayton was abused as a child, raped on a military base and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. She reportedly attempted suicide in August 2018 while the investigation was still going on.
Court records show the couple lived on property worth more than $1 million and more than $1 million more in Stephen Clayton’s other assets.
