Richard Rosenthal
Richard Rosenthal was mentally insane when he beat his wife to death and then impaled her heart and lungs on a backyard stake, a defense attorney argued yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court.
Rosenthal, 40 of Framingham, confessed to murdering his wife, Laura Jane, on the evening of Aug. 28, 1995, after she criticized him for burning their dinner. Norman S. Zalkind, his attorney, said Rosenthal had been suffering from mental illness for some time.