From the "Gargle with Absorbine Jr" Files"

Sometimes, people need to think a little before they speak:

N.J. man kills family, himself
By JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press

MILLVILLE, N.J. - Hours before he was to take the stand yesterday, a defendant in a sex-assault case apparently killed his wife and two young children before turning a shotgun on himself, authorities said.

The bodies of Scott McCarter, 40; his wife, Wendy, 35, and their children, Scotty, 12, and Melanie, 8, were found by a friend who went to check on McCarter when he didn't show up in court.

The friend arrived at the couple's neatly kept ranch house on the outskirts of town to find all four dead.

McCarter was sitting in a living-room chair with the shotgun by his side; the others were in their beds, according to Cumberland County Prosecutor Ronald Casella.

"It would appear to have been a murder-suicide, where his family - his wife and the two children - were murdered first and then he turned the gun on him," said Casella.

There was no suicide note and no sign of forced entry or a struggle, he said.

Authorities weren't sure whether the shootings had been triggered by the court case. McCarter had been accused of molesting two teenagers - one of whom was the daughter of his then-girlfriend, Wendy.

He faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

No s**t, Mr. Casella! It would be hard to murder his wife and children if he committed suicide first, right? (And maybe he should have, too!)