Norwich man sentenced to 22½ years for fatally shooting wife

A Norwich man was sentenced Thursday in New London Superior Court to 22½ years in prison for fatally shooting his wife on Sept. 7, 2015.

Fifty-eight-year-old James F. Hodgdon Jr. was sentenced to 40 years in prison, suspended after 22½ years served, followed by five years of probation for first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. He originally was charged with murder before pleading guilty to the lesser charge after lengthy negotiations. Judge Hillary B. Strackbein presided over the case.

“I hope to some extent this will be a lesson to people that if a relationship veers into violence and veers into a situation where people lose their emotional control, they need to step away and they need to make sure a gun in no way, shape or form is anywhere near that kind of level of emotional volatility,” prosecutor Lawrence J. Tytla said.

According to Norwich police, on the evening of Sept. 7, 2015, Hodgdon called 911 and said he had killed his wife. When police arrived at the scene, he voluntarily surrendered himself, and said he was holding a shotgun that accidentally went off as he and his wife wrestled over it.

Police found Dianna Hodgdon, 58, dead at the scene of a gunshot wound to the upper torso.

Later, at police headquarters, James Hodgdon said he had planned to commit suicide. He said his wife had come into the garage and belittled him by calling him names. He said he put the shotgun down against the wall and went into another room to get an overnight bag. He said he heard his wife slamming the shotgun on the ground and went into the garage and told her to stop because the gun was loaded.

He said he grabbed the shotgun and his wife pulled it from the barrel end with both hands. He said he pulled the gun back, put his finger on the trigger and pulled it.

“I’ve taken responsibility right from the beginning for this . ... There was never any intent,” James Hodgdon said when addressing the court. “Apology isn’t even a strong enough word, but I don’t know if there is any stronger word.”

Members of the victim’s family did not speak directly at the sentencing hearing, although Dianna Hodgdon’s son was in attendance and a victim’s advocate spoke on his behalf, saying the family was left with a question of why “a man with the ways and means to leave the house that day instead chose to go get a gun and shoot his mom.”

Dianna Hodgdon’s daughter also previously had sent a letter to the court.

Although James Hodgdon’s family and friends did not directly address the court Thursday, many did send letters on his behalf.

Defense attorney M. Fred DeCaprio said he had received about 25 letters on his client’s behalf, some of which he read portions to the court. In the letters, family members and friends described James Hodgdon, a former security guard for the Millstone Nuclear Power Station, as a man who was friendly, helpful, calm and had a “heart of gold.”

Throughout the hearing both parties described the event as “tragic” and acknowledged the contentious nature of the couple’s relationship. Although there was still disagreement about the prosecutor’s and defendant’s account of events, both parties expressed that the agreed-upon deal was the appropriate sentence.

“One of the ways you know an agreement is fair is neither side is very happy about it,” said DeCaprio, who added that both the victim’s family and James Hodgdon expressed displeasure with the sentence.

Judge Strackbein described the case as a “truly tragic situation” and stressed that there is an important lesson people need to learn about gun violence.

“Everyone has to understand that as a society we can’t tolerate gun violence, which in the worst cases leads to a death,” she said. “With no gun, we wouldn’t be here today.”