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Winona, MN (KROC-AM News) - An elderly Winona area man today entered a not guilty plea to second-degree murder.

During an appearance this afternoon in Winona County Court, 79-year-old Joseph Wright entered the not guilty plea after waiving his right to an evidentiary hearing. The rural Dakota man is accused of fatally stabbing his 72-year-old wife in the couple's apartment on July 10th.

Court documents indicated she was suffering from dementia. Investigators say Wright called the Winona County Sheriff's Office and reported that he had killed his wife and the responding deputies found her in the residence with stab wounds to her abdomen and other injuries.

The charges against him say Joseph left a note saying he "could not watch her suffer" before he attempted suicide by cutting his wrist, which resulted in a non-life threatening wound. He remains in the Winona County jail on $1 million bail.

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