Murder She Did

If you’re thinking of becoming a mass murderer — and I sincerely hope that you are not — you might want to move to Austria before you begin your body count.

Why? Let’s just say you won’t get the book thrown at you if you get caught.

European countries long ago abolished the death penalty. In Austria, even a “life sentence” rarely extends beyond 15 years, no matter how many bodies you sent to the morgue.

For example, Austria’s two “angels of death,” Waltraud Wagner and Irene Leidolf, will be sprung soon after 17 years behind bars.

That’s a lot of time, but not if you’ve done a lot of killings. And these gals knew how to put ’em away.

They worked as nurse’s aides and were convicted of killing at least 20 elderly patients by injecting them with drugs or forcing water into their lungs.

And no, these were not “mercy killings,” if there is such a thing. The presiding judge denounced their “malicious methods” — such as pushing aside the tongues of their victims and pouring water down their throats.

When the two killers and two other accomplices were first caught, they admitted taking out 42 patients at a hospital that had been converted into a nursing home. Later, they retracted most of those confessions. ("Hey, it's not like we're bad people!")

Anyhow, the two killers are both still in their 40s and can presumably look forward to many more years of life.

Unlike the dozens of people they murdered … crimes for which they served less than 20 years.

Remember that the next time somebody whines about the death penalty in this country.