The Iowa Parole Board has voted unanimously to recommend that the Governor commute the life sentence of a Clinton man who shot his wife to death 11 years ago. Shortly after he went to prison, Dennis Fredericksen had a heart attack. Before he was revived, oxygen had been cut off from his brain, and he’s now a quadriplegic who’s in a vegetative state. Parole Board chairman Charles Larson, Senior, says the board is confident Fredericksen’s not faking. He says there is no way he could ever harm anyone again.Larson and the rest of the Parole Board tried to interview Fredericksen this morning and he couldn’t respond. The Governor has 90 days to consider commuting Fredericksen’s life sentence. If Vilsack does approve the commutation, the plan is to put Fredericksen on a waiting list for the Veteran’s Home in Marshalltown, as he is a Vietnam vet. Larson says the state spends three times as much money every year caring for Fredericksen than it would if he were in a regular cell.
