NJ woman who killed husband on Christmas agrees to plea deal

🔴 Christmas night killing of NJ man

🔴 Woman shot husband to death

🔴 Plea to lesser charge in court

A 53-year-old Mays Landing woman has admitted to shooting and killing her husband on Christmas night 2022.

Marylue Wigglesworth entered a guilty plea to second-degree manslaughter in connection with the killing of 57-year-old David Wigglesworth, in their Mays Landing home.

RELATED: 'Domestic violence' spurred NJ wife to shoot husband

Following Tuesday’s action in Atlantic County Superior Court, Wigglesworth would face a recommended term of six years in prison when sentenced on Aug. 20.

She would have to serve just over five years — or 85% of the sentence — before being eligible for parole.

SEE ALSO: Prosecutor: NJ man charged with murder after wife's death

Christmas night shooting in Mays Landing

Township of Hamilton Police Department responded to the Wigglesworth home along Somers Point Road on Dec. 25, 2022, around 10:19 p.m.

Officers found David Wigglesworth suffering from a single gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Marylue Wigglesworth had said in the days following her arrest that she had been acting in self defense.

In February 2023, she was indicted on a murder charge.

Investigating the case, police did document significant bruising on Marylue Wigglesworth’s body, consistent with her being the victim of an assault, prosecutors said.

Read More: NJ wife indicted of murdering David Wigglesworth 

In Atlantic County Superior Court, Marylue Wigglesworth said that before the 2022 shooting, she and her husband had argued.

She said he physically assaulted her and threatened her with a firearm kept in their bedroom.

Immediately after that, Wigglesworth said she shot her husband with the gun.

Sentencing was set for Aug. 20.

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