Pennsylvania woman who poisoned husband freed from prison

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania woman who pleaded guilty to killing her husband by slipping rat poison into his food and drinks has been released from prison.

The (Wilkes-Barre) Times Leader reports 53-year-old Joann Curley left a state women's prison in Cambridge Springs, south of Erie, about 12:15 a.m. Monday.

The newspaper says Curley didn't respond to questions shouted by a reporter as four guards escorted her to a waiting truck.

Curley served the maximum 20-year sentence a judge imposed in 1997 under a deal in which she pleaded to third-degree murder.

Luzerne County prosecutors say Curley poisoned her Robert Curley with thallium, a heavy metal used in rat poisoning, in 1991 so she could collect $300,000 in insurance policies and keep him from spending $1.7 million she won in a lawsuit.

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