February 10, 2005, 06:54
GGShe says her husband gave himself the lethal dose of sherry
By RICHARD STEWART
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES
COURT DATE
� This summer: The case is set to go to trial in July in Angleton.
GALVESTON - A Lake Jackson widow denied Wednesday that she provided the alcohol that led to her husband's death from a sherry enema.
Tammy Jean Warner said her husband, Michael Warner, 58, not only had a longtime alcohol problem but had been addicted to enemas since he was a child.
Courtesy of Warner Family
Tammy Warner says her husband used this equipment for enemas. An autopsy report said his blood-alcohol level was 0.47 percent, almost six times the legal intoxication limit for operating a motor vehicle.
He gave himself the enema that led to his death May 21, she said.
"There's no way I could have gave my husband that enema, no way," Warner said during an interview at her attorney's office.
A Brazoria County grand jury indicted her on a charge of negligent homicide. Prosecutors claim she provided alcohol for Warner even though she knew he'd been warned that alcohol could kill him.
She is free on $30,000 bond.
An autopsy report said his blood-alcohol level was 0.47 percent, almost six times the legal intoxication limit for operating a motor vehicle.
"It all started back when he was a child," Warner said. "His mother used to give him enemas all the time, and he started to depend on them all the time."
She said he paid $1,000 to study colonics at a school and corresponded with other enema users on the Internet. Not all of his enemas involved liquor, she said.
"He did coffee enemas, he did Castile soap, Ivory soap," she said. "He had enema recipes."
She said he liked to use wine or sherry in enemas because that would allow his body to absorb alcohol faster than drinking it. Sherry and wine were easier on his digestive system than other forms of alcohol, she said.
"He would drink, too, but his favorite was enemas," she said.
Investigators said medical problems kept him from ingesting alcohol by drinking it, but his widow said he would drink as well.
"My husband could drink very well with any problem he had," she said.
He wouldn't drink every day, but when he did drink, he found it difficult to stop, she said.
"We had a lot of good days that we shared in our garden and our yard," she said. "When he went to drinking, a lot of times I would, too. I would take care of him the best I could. I'd make sure he'd eat."
The couple met about three years ago at a bar where she worked as a bartender and waitress, Warner said. They lived together for about a year before marrying in October 2002.
She said while they lived together she had a large tumor removed from her abdomen.
"Every day I was in the hospital, he asked me to marry him," she said.
She said he cooked most of the meals and weighed her food to make sure she followed a strict diet because she is diabetic.
"My husband told me he loved me more than anything in the world except for God," she said. "I'm not ashamed of my husband because I loved him, and I supported him 1,000 percent, whatever he wanted to do. That's the way he went out, and I'm sure that's the way he wanted to go out because he loved his enemas."
Warner said that when she woke up the morning of May 21, she had no idea her husband, who had his arm around her in bed, was dead.
He had a long history of being very difficult to rouse from sleep, she said. After repeated tries didn't wake him up, she called 911.
Emergency technicians told her that he was dead.
Warner said she believes her husband's adult children are the cause of the charges against her. She is also charged with destroying his will.
"There was no will," she said. She said they talked often of having wills made but never did.
"If he had died through consuming too much alcohol through a wine glass, we wouldn't be here," said Warner's attorney, Jyll Rekoff.
Warner said she did get money from her husband's life-insurance policy but refused to say how much.
Her husband's daughter, Serena Riemann, the executor of his estate, said in court documents that her stepmother got almost $250,000 in insurance.
The estate is valued at more than $317,000, according to court documents.
Riemann declined to talk to the Houston Chronicle.
Rekoff said Warner will plead not guilty. The case is scheduled to go to trial in July in Angleton.
If convicted, Warner faces up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each of the two charges.
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FAVORITE QUOTE POLL
PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR PARAPHRASE FROM THIS ARTICLE
#1 "That's the way he went out, and I'm sure that's the way he wanted to go out because he loved his enemas."
#2 Warner said that when she woke up the morning of May 21, she had no idea her husband, who had his arm around her in bed, was dead.
#3 She said he paid $1,000 to study colonics at a school and corresponded with other enema users on the Internet. Not all of his enemas involved liquor, she said.
#4 "He did coffee enemas, he did Castile soap, Ivory soap," she said. "He had enema recipes."
#5 The couple met about three years ago at a bar where she worked as a bartender and waitress,
So now we have two schools identified where "how to get drunk from enemas" is part of the curriculum.
I wonder if these practitioners have drinking buddies?
Okay Jane and AP, it's your turn.
