Posted on 05/17/2009 11:01:38 AM PDT by wagglebee
County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced Thursday the indictment of four people in connection with the alleged assisted suicide death of a Phoenix woman.
The indictments were handed down from a grand jury on Tuesday.
The four defendants are part of a group called Final Exit Network that according to their website, "serves people who are suffering from an intolerable condition."
Frank Langsner of Scottsdale and Wye Hale-Rowe of Colorado, were indicted on charges of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit manslaughter.
Also indicted for Conspiracy to commit manslaughter were Roberta Massey of New Jersey and Dr. Larry Egbert of Baltimore.
According to Thomas, Jana Van Voorhis was found dead in her home on April 15, 2007.
An investigation determined she had died by suicide accomplished through helium inhalation. Investigators said Van Voorhis was not terminally ill but rather suffered from mental illness and depression.
Through the investigation, Frank Langsner and Wye Hale-Rowe were identified as "final exit guides." They allegedly visited the victim and her death was caused by placing a hood over her head which was connected to a helium tank.
According to investigators, Langsner and Hale-Rowe completed a "practice session" prior to the victim's death. They inspected the equipment and showed the victim how to apply the hood and where to place the fitted tube.
They reportedly returned later that evening to be with Van Voorhis as she died. After she died, Langsner and Hale-Rowe allegedly arranged the victim in a sleeping position and disposed of the tanks, hood, hoses and valve in three trash bags, which they dropped in three separate, pre-selected office trash sites in the area.
Massey was allegedly known as a Case Coordinator for the Final Exit network. Investigators said that as such it would have been her task to review documents related to candidates for assisted suicide and pass on medical records to Dr. Egbert. Dr Egbert was the so-called Medical Director for the Network, and as such it is alleged that he reviewed the medical records of candidates for assisted suicide.
The investigation into Van Voorhis death grew into a national probe. On February 25, 2009, law enforcement agencies across the country executed search warrants at 14 sites as part of an investigation into the Final Exit Network.
Thomas said, "The defendants allegedly took advantage of a victim with a history of mental-health issues. The victim's family members are to be commended for not allowing this homicide to be ignored."
I'm sure the culture of death considered her to be a "subhuman worthless eater".
Pro-Life Ping
Freepmail wagglebee or DirtyHarryY2K to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
From whose point of view?
This is the same mindset that bureaucRATS under Ubama's "health care plan" are going to utilize: Is the expense of keeping this person alive worth it? To the state that is.
I've had the hiccups for going on 10 minutes now. I wonder if they could help me?
I've had the hiccups for going on 10 minutes now. I wonder if they could help me?
I had the Hiccups for six weeks straight.......
DURING BOOT CAMP!
It sounds terribly inconsiderate of your fellow recruits not to have killed you.
What’s wrong with people today?
My father committed suicide because of mental illness, injuring five generations of his family, from his grandfather who tried to throw himself in the grave, to his mother who wept for him thirty years later, to his wife and brothers who still ask why, to his children who have been scarred, to his grandchildren who live with their parents’ scars and will never know their grandfather.
Why must these death lovers poison society? I do not think I could have survived knowing a death cult had killed my father. Let the suicidal die by their own hands alone, if die they must. To hell with this false, avid “compassion.”
“Intolerable condition” is utterly meaningless. Everyone who commits suicide considers themselves to be suffering from an intolerable condition. And, by definition, if they kill themselves, it proves the condition was intolerable...to them.
Just what we need. Libtards working as independent agents in the culture of death. The only way to stop it is as these people did. They sought justice for their loved one.
Any time libtards deny life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness, we should be suing if we want to stop them BEFORE Obama takes over the courts.
O bow ma doesn’t have to take over that which has abdicated its position. The Roberts court is no longer supreme, it is the subprme court, having sworn in a man who they allowed to take office without proving he is Constitutionally eligible. The Constitutional contract has been thoroughly abrogated so the courts need not be ‘taken over’ since they are now servant to the supreme federal oligarch and his minions.
My sympathies.
I agree: Suicide can harm entire families.
Ironically, some of the “pro suicide” supporters say the suicide was so bad they want it “legalized”...presumably so that they can assauge their guilt.
Others, like Christopher Hitchens, whose mom killed herself when he was a boy, take their anger out on God.
Also ironic: that when a society seems to “approve” of suicide, it becomes more common, because some (teenagers, the sick, the depressed, the lonely) are vulnerable to suggestiongs.
I shudder to think of these pro death people hinting to the depressed that yes, it’s okay to kill yourself, because if someone says: Hold on, things will improve, they might hold on and live...
Father Groeschel has a prayer in one of his books, asking the mercy of God on those who despair and kill themselves...so I’ll remember your father in my prayers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.