Michigan Man Poisons Wife's Coffee And Gets Just 60 Days In Jail
He is just serving time on the weekends.
Instagram When you marry someone you're likely planning on spending the rest of your life together. Worst case scenaro, if the two of you do decide to end your marriage somewhere down the road, you hope that you'll both remember the happier times and try to make the separation as easy as possible for all parties involved. Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. Who is Brian Kozlowski? A man who thought he could fix his divorce and the financial burden it put upon him by trying to kill his wife. He's been found guilty, but he'll be spending virtually no time in prison. Here's what we know.
1. Brian In The News
Are you as excited as I am to talk about the latest miscarriage of justice that's making headlines today? I know I am! Let's get into this creep and what he did and what he got away and how insane it is that he got away with it! Brian Kozlowski of Detroit was just sentenced to spend 60 weekend days (that's right, weekends only) for poisoning his wife's coffee for years. When Brian's wife Therese filed for divorce in May 2018 she couldn't shake the notion that Brian was up to something. So, in order to see what exactly her formerly beloved was up to that had her spidey senses tingling, she set up cameras and caught him in the act.
2. How He Poisoned Her
And what, pray tell, did the cameras she put in place catch? Why, none other than repeated instances of her hubby Brian putting popular antihistamine, diphenhydramine (which is also used to treat insomnia) into her coffee every single morning! Nightmare fuel. I mean I get enraged when I discover that I've wasted my time with decaf, so this? I cannot. According to prosecutors, every day ingesting this ill cup of java left Therese feeling nauseated, exhausted, and frequently her vision became blurred. Thankfully, they were able to get the last cup of coffee made for her by Brian and test it and found it had more than 127 milliliters of the drug!
3. Evidence, Motive, No Time?
Here's where things begin to get a little bit too twisted for my liking. So we've caught a guy in the act of trying to poison the woman who is divorcing him. There's proof, we've got the camera footage and the lab results from the coffee itself. In fact, even when the case finally went to trial in June of this year, Brian himself fully pleaded no contest when it came to the charges of poisoning a drink (you can and should get 15 years for that). The country prosecutor trying the case, Eric Smith, was only seeking the minimum sentence: 19 months in jail. I take issue with even THAT, but Smith himself took issue with the final sentence.
4. He Tried To Kill Her
In spite of all of this, Brian is still serving almost no time at all for what he did, and what he did was deliberately try to murder his wife. Even the state prosecutor acknowledged that this was a serious crime, saying: “This defendant deserves nothing less than a prison cell for his actions," and yet the only went for the minimum when it came to charges. If I were Therese, I would feel ignored, mistreated, and like genuinely very few people cared whether or not my estranged husband was planning on taking my life or if he would plan on doing it again! Therese herself stood before the judge and said that she considered the poisoning an "attempted murder," but that did not change the sentencing.
5. Tale As Old As Time
So what was the reason behind Brian's attempts to end his wife's life? According to Therese, Brian was fearful that once the divorce was settled, he would be required to pay her alimony, something he didn't want to do. "Brian was trying to kill me to keep his comfortable life from slipping away," she said, to the courts. These PSAs telling us that kids need art classes are all well and good, but how about we start a "The More You Know" campaign about how killing someone never, ever solves a problem, to begin with (in addition to being morally reprehensible) and very often makes things worse. God knows there are a lot of straight white men who could benefit from it.
6. The State Speaks Out
Thankfully, the prosecutors agree that this weekend decision is "a slap in the face” and they plan on doing whatever it takes to get that message to the public. "The Court seemed more focused on ensuring the defendant’s freedom & ability to work than the victim's safety," Smith tweeted. "It is troubling to think that someone who commits such a reckless crime, putting so many people at risk, walks away with just a slap on the wrist." And Smith is right. While Brian and Therese are now divorced, what's to stop the man from attempting to harm her again in order to make sure his precious bank balance isn't negatively impacted?
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime.