A former Arizona doctor pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years of probation after admitting he helped a 59-year-old woman commit suicide in a motel room in New York’s Hudson Valley last fall.
former doctor, Stephen P. MillerHe entered his plea and received his sentence during a brief appearance in Ulster County Court. The deal comes nearly seven months after he was indicted for his role in the asphyxiation death of a woman, Doreen Brodhead.
Mr. Miller, 85, pleaded not guilty in February to one count of manslaughter and two counts of assault. Under an agreement with the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, the assault counts were dropped. He faced a possible sentence of five to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge and up to 25 years if convicted on all counts.
Mr. Miller did not make a statement in court and declined to comment afterward. One of his lawyers, Jeffrey Lichtman, said outside court that his client had acted kindly in helping Ms. Brodhead carry out her wishes but acknowledged that Mr. Miller had violated New York’s law against assisted suicide.
“Technically, he violated the law, and we accept that,” Mr. Lichtman said. Still, he added, “Ethically, Stephen Miller did nothing wrong.”
Ulster County District Attorney, Emanuel C. A spokesman for Neji did not respond to a request for comment.
Assisted suicide procedures are rare in the United States. The most recent such case in New York appears to have involved an Ulster County woman, according to Kingston’s Daily FreemanPleaded guilty to manslaughter in her husband’s 2016 death. She was also sentenced to five years probation.
Ms. Brodhead’s body was found on a bed in a Super 8 motel room in Kingston, NY, at 11:15 a.m. on November 9. There was a note on the bed and a canister of nitrogen gas nearby.
Surveillance footage obtained by investigators accused Mr. Miller of picking up Ms. Brodhead at her apartment on Nov. 8, going with her to get a nitrogen tank, driving with her to a motel and taking the tank to the room. For court documents. He once left to buy a wrench because of a problem with the tank’s regulator, turned back, and then about an hour later left again for a flight back to Albany and Arizona.
A firm believer in the idea that mentally competent adults have the right to determine the terms of their deaths, Mr. Miller belongs to Choice and Dignity, a right-to-die group in Tucson, Ariz. He told authorities it was an act of kindness to help end Mrs Brodhead’s life as chronic back and neck pain turned into constant suffering.
Ms Brodhead’s mother told The New York Times in May that her daughter had suffered from the pain for almost 40 years. Even if New York were among the states where so-called medical assistance in dying was legal, Doreen Brodhead would not have been eligible because she did not have a terminal illness with more than six months to live.
It is unclear how she first came into contact with Mr. Miller. Mr. Lichtman said Tuesday that the two had communicated extensively for about six months before her death, and that Mr. Miller had tried to talk Ms. Broadhead out of suicide before agreeing to help her.
Mr. Miller told investigators he sat with Ms. Brodhead while she prepared to choke, court records show. She hesitated for a while, telling him that she would miss her family, especially her mother. The two talked further, and Mrs. Brodhead proceeded as planned. Mr. Miller said he left after she took her last breath and she only paid his expenses.
Mr. Miller received his medical degree in 1964 and began his career as a pediatrician at hospitals in Chicago and Boston. For more than 25 years, he worked in California and Texas.
In 2006, he was convicted of federal tax evasion for hiding more than $1 million in income offshore with the help of a corrupt financial planner, court records show. He spent three years in prison. Texas and California regulators revoked his medical licenses, according to government documents; His licenses expired in Arizona and Massachusetts.
He told investigators that he had counseled people in recent years who had decided to kill themselves. Without elaborating, Mr. Lichtman told The Times in February that Mr. Miller had assisted in several suicides.
“That part of his life is over,” Mr. Lichtman said Tuesday.
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