Bail Set in Failed Murder-Suicide Case

A judge has set bail for an elderly Southern California man charged with trying to kill his wife and himself with car exhaust fumes.

James Wheeler, 84, of Carpinteria had been held without bail since his arrest last week, the Los Angeles Times reported. While prosecutors in Santa Barbara County argued that Wheeler would be a danger to his neighbors and to emergency workers if he is freed, Superior Court Judge George Eskin disagreed.

Wheeler’s wife, Betty, 85, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Eskin found that her husband’s actions were caused by “desperation that developed as his wife drifted away.”

Eskin set bail at $100,000 Tuesday. He set a number of conditions, saying that another adult must be present when Wheeler visits his wife at the nursing home where she is now living.

Wheeler ran a hose from the tailpipe of his car through a window of his house and started the car on Sept. 17. A neighbor walking his dog spotted the car and hose and called emergency workers.