A 59-year-old Iowa City woman convicted of stabbing her doctor husband to death four-and-a-half years ago will be getting out of prison soon.
Phyllis Nelson was convicted of stabbing her husband — Dr. Richard Nelson, the dean of the University of Iowa Medical School — to death on December 12, 2001. Nelson says she went to her husband’s Cedar Rapids apartment to confront him about an affair and grabbed a knife to try and scare him, but she says he ran into the blade.
Nelson recounted what she calls the “horrible accident” during testimony today (Wednesday) before the state Parole Board. A judge convicted her of voluntary manslaughter in 2003, which carried a prison term of up to 10 years. But with good behavior inside the women’s prison in Mitchellville, Nelson was eligible for early release and that’s what the Parole Board has granted her.
She’s expected to be released from prison in four to six weeks. She plans to live with her sister-in-law in Illinois. Nelson has two daughters who live in Illinois as well. Nelson has lined up a job working as a secretary.