Final Exit Network is convicted for assisting suicide
A right-to-die group faces a fine of up to $33,000 after its conviction on Thursday for assisting the 2007 suicide of a Minnesota woman.
Jurors in Dakota County, Minnesota, convicted the Final Exit Network in the death of Doreen Dunn, 57, who had been living in pain since reacting to a medical procedure more than a decade before, report the Associated Press, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Reuters. The verdict is the group’s first felony conviction for aiding suicide.
Prosecutors said the Final Exit Network provided Dunn with a “blueprint” for killing herself and removed from the death scene helium-asphyxiation equipment she used to take her life. The group was convicted of assisting suicide and interfering with a dead body or death scene.
The case went to trial after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled last year that speech can be considered assisting suicide if the message gives specific instructions on how to carry it out.
Defense lawyer Robert Rivas said the case was a “direct violation of the First Amendment” and he would appeal the verdict.
