EYE FOR AN EYE

South Carolina Woman Gets 25 Years for Killing Her Husband With Eye Drops

An autopsy on her husband showed poisonous levels of a decongestant eye drop in his body.

A South Carolina woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to killing her husband by dripping poison into his eyes. Lana Sue Clayton was initially charged with murder, according to NBC News, but pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter ahead of her sentencing. Clayton was arrested after an autopsy on her husband, Stephen Delvalle Clayton, showed poisonous levels of tetrahydrozoline in his body. The eye drop is a decongestant used to relieve redness in the eyes. York County Sheriff’s Office said she confessed to administering the substance without her husband's knowledge, but told a judge she didn’t intend to kill her husband and just wanted to make him sick. “After finding out the Visine was the cause of death, I attempted to take my life as well,” she reportedly said in court. “I couldn’t live with the thought that I did such a terrible thing.” Lana Clayton previously shot her husband in the back of the head with a crossbow in 2016, and told police at the time that it was an accident.