Ventura County's oldest inmate will remain jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail until his trial in April, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Alfred Pohlmeier, 91, is charged with strangling his wife of 62 years in September because her constant coughing kept him awake at night. Late last year, Pohlmeier's health deteriorated dramatically, to the point that his attorney, Susan Olson, feared the retired postal worker would die.
Since then, the Fillmore resident has made enough of a recovery--jail officials hired a full-time nurses aide to tend to Pohlmeier--that Olson has dropped her plea to free him and place him in a convalescent home.
"He is still having some health problems," Olson said. "But he is much better off than he was. He's hanging in there."
On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. set Pohlmeier's trial date for April 15. If Pohlmeier is convicted of first-degree murder, he faces a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.
