Columnist asks for Judge to remember Falater's wife (Will silence of the dead be heard?)
(Phoenix) AZ Republic 15Dec99 D2
By Laurie Roberts

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- After reviewing the testimony in favor of former LDS High Councilman Scott Falater, Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts wonders who will speak for the wife that he was convicted of murdering. Many witnesses have testified in Falater's favor, including both his children and his mother-in-law.

Roberts says that Falater is portrayed by his family and friends as a "dedicated servant of God," and as "a loving husband, a partner who adored his wife of 20 years." Friends and acquaintances don't understand how he could have killed his wife. Co-workers see him as a teacher and role model.

But Roberts then asks, "Who will speak for Yarmila Falater?" She says his friends and family defend him with "blind faith," and notes that they "readily acknowledge that they don't know what happened that night, when their friend stabbed his wife 44 times as she screamed and fought." And she says that they resist the thought that "Yarmila could have been unhappy in her marriage, that she could have been resisting his pressure to get more involved in church. That he might have killed her in order to avoid a divorce that would have cost him his high church position."

The arguments about Falater's sentence continue, and Judge Ronald Reinstein is scheduled to decide his fate next month.