On Monday, New York woman, Angelika Graswald, admitted that the she pulled the plug on her fiancé Vincent Viafore’s kayak during a May 2015 kayaking excursion. The plea deal came only a month before Graswald’s murder trial. She faced life in prison, but with her plea of “criminal negligence,” experts contend she got a “get out of jail free card.”
CrimeOnline‘s very own Nancy Grace appeared on Good Morning America (GMA) on Tuesday morning to discuss Graswald’s plea deal with legal expert and Chief Legal Affairs Anchor for ABC News, Dan Abrams.
“It means you didn’t do it on purpose but that you created a risk that was unjustifiable,” Abrams explained of Graswald’s criminal negligence plea.
Abrams said that only reason prosecutors offered Graswald the plea deal, which will likely allow her to serve months instead of years in prison, is because they had a “weak case,” something that Grace disagreed with.
“Why don’t you just help her go to the bank, Dan Abrams, and let her cash in on her quarter of a million dollars life insurance policy?” Grace replied. “How about statements like, ‘I’m glad he’s dead. I’m OK with it. It felt good knowing he was going to die?'”
As Grace explained that Graswald pulled the plug of Viafore’s kayak, pushed his paddle away, and left him to drown in the Hudson River, Abrams questioned Grace’s knowledge of kayaks.
“How much do you know about kayaks?” Abrams shot back.
“I have kayaked many, many times.” Grace replied.
“Great, then you’ll know that removing that plug will not sink a kayak,” Abrams said.
“The kayak sunk, Dan! Do you argue that the kayak went underwater?”
“Have you been in the Hudson River when the weather is really, really bad?” Abrams replied.
“Why, may I ask, did she kick his away paddle?” Grace said back.
According to the medical examiner who wrote the autopsy report for Viafore, his death occurred as a result of a “kayak drain plug intentionally removed by other.”
Watch the clip below as Abrams and Grace continue their discussion on the Graswald case.
[Feature Photo: Screenshot/GMA]
