Martinsburg man accused of abusing incapacitated wife released with time served

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A Martinsburg man who was accused of abusing his bed-ridden wife and attempting to kill her last spring pleaded guilty Monday in Berkeley County Circuit Court to one count of attempted abuse of an incapacitated adult.

Robert Lee Doyle III, 50, was released from Eastern Regional Jail Monday after 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Gray Silver III sentenced him to time served behind bars. He had been incarcerated since July 2013.

Doyle was charged with attempted murder, domestic battery and abuse of an incapacitated adult, but those charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Still, Berkeley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Saunders asked the court Monday to impose a sentence of not less than one or more than three years in prison.

Saunders said Doyle’s wife stressed that she loved her husband in three meetings she had with the victim.

“They can love each other all they want, a crime was still committed,” Saunders told the court.

Doyle said in testimony Monday that he had been his wife’s primary caretaker since her medical condition worsened from multiple sclerosis. His wife was diagnosed with the disease in 1994, and Doyle recounted how her condition grew worse, ultimately leaving her confined to a bed.

Doyle told the court he mistreated his wife and put a bag over her head, and stuck her out in the rain and cold in an incident last spring while he was suffering from caregiver “burnout.”

Doyle said the circumstances — including his own loss of employment due to his wife’s condition — led him to heavy drinking and drug use, blackouts and the alleged abusive behavior.

“True, I put a plastic grocery bag over her head, but it was not fastened at the bottom and did not cause any threat to her life, but it would have caused humiliation, and I deeply regret that,” Doyle said in a typed statement his attorney, William R. DeHaven, released after Monday’s plea and sentencing hearing.

“Apparently, there were acts that occurred while I was in a blackout, but I cannot accept any claims that I would have threatened the life of a woman who I love and for whom I have provided the closest care for many, many years,” Doyle said in the statement.

The victim had told police that the defendant put a pellet gun to her head, choked her with the sleeve of a shirt and told her she was “not worth living, not worth anything,” court records said.

The victim told police that her husband spit on her, slapped her and grabbed the back of her hair so tight that it was straining her neck, records said.

The victim said her husband threatened that he would “take all means of life away and let her die in the apartment, and no one would know that she was dead,” records said.

Shortly after his wife reported the abuse in May, Doyle was charged twice with driving under the influence.

Doyle said he threw away his life due to pills and alcohol use, but told the court that he planned to do everything he could to become the person he used to be without drugs, which included marijuana, heroin, Percocet and Xanax.

Doyle told the court that his relationship with his wife is stronger now than it has ever been, and he is “truly sorry” for what he did to her.

His wife, who has been receiving care in a nursing home in Charles Town, W.Va., did not attend Monday’s hearing, but the judge noted she told the probation office she didn’t want “anything bad” to happen to her husband.

“I love my wife with all my heart,” Doyle said. “She’s my best friend.”

Silver said the court does not condone Doyle’s actions, but noted it is clear that the couple, who were high school sweethearts, still love each other very much and wish to be together.

The judge also cited Doyle’s lack of criminal history prior to the incident with his wife and noted that it is clearly evident the defendant is remorseful.

Silver also noted that the court could understand how Doyle could have suffered from caregiver burnout, which is recognized as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion.

Doyle said he promised his wife that he would not put her in a nursing home.

The couple’s daughter now has legal right to supervise her mother’s medical care, Doyle said.