By Gary Mays
gmays@
themonroetimes.com
MONROE — The legal saga of a woman who moved to Wisconsin and allegedly tried to poison her elderly, newfound husband in Lafayette County is nearing its end.
Amanda Chapin, 51, is scheduled to be sentenced July 23 to one count of first-degree recklessly endangering safety before Circuit Judge Barbara McCrory in court in Darlington, according to court records.
It’s a far cry from the attempted first-degree intentional homicide she was initially charged with following her arrest in the case last September at a Monroe hotel.
In a hearing last month, Chapin pleaded guilty to a single charge of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, a Class F Felony, before Circuit Judge Faun Phillipson.
She faced potentially decades in prison if convicted on the more serious charge. However, the maximum potential penalty for recklessly endangering safety is more than 12 years in state prison. Still, details of the plea agreement have not been made public.
The incident with Chapin and her veterinarian husband began Aug. 21, 2021, when he was taken to the SMS Health Monroe Clinic, complaining of breathing issues. The victim, Gary Chapin, later was placed in intensive care at an area VA facility and slipped into a coma.
His blood reportedly tested positive for barbiturates — the same drugs he had on hand for pet euthanasia. But the veteran recovered after being treated at a SMS Monroe Clinic; and at the Middleton VA Hospital.
The couple married at the Lafayette County courthouse, despite the suspicions of the man’s family.
Not long after the wedding, Chapin allegedly forged the signature on a power-of-attorney document, and then demanded her husband file a quit-claim on his house, leaving it to her. Then she is alleged to have begun poisoning him with the suspected barbiturates.
Gary Chapin awoke from his coma after a four-day hospital stay and began to talk to police last August. He alleged that his new wife poisoned him three times earlier that summer, culminating in his waking up in the hospital on Aug. 25. They are now divorced.
According to court documents, the defendant now lives in Madison.