Right-to-die group fined $30K in Minnesota woman's suicide

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By AMY FORLITI

HASTINGS, Minn. (AP) — A national right-to-die group convicted of assisting in the 2007 suicide of a Minnesota woman was ordered Monday to pay a $30,000 fine — the maximum sentence allowed under state law.

Final Exit Network Inc. was convicted in May of assisting in the suicide of Doreen Dunn, a 57-year-old Apple Valley woman who took her life after a decade of suffering from chronic pain. In addition to the fine, the group was also ordered to pay nearly $3,000 to Dunn's family to cover funeral expenses.

Judge Christian Wilton gave the group until Oct. 2 to pay the fine and restitution. He placed the group on probation — restricting the group's activities in Minnesota — until the fine is paid. Probation will be lifted once payments are made.

Robert Rivas, the group's attorney, told the judge that Final Exit Network is "unrepentant." After the hearing, he said the group will continue to operate in Minnesota and won't change its policies because of this case. But Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said his office is exploring an injunction to stop the group's activities, which he called legally wrong and "morally reprehensible."

FULL story at link.


FILE - In this May 14, 2012 file photo, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announces a grand jury indictment in Hastings, Minn., against members of Final Exit Network in the 2007 suicide of Doreen Dunn. Backstrom said Monday, Aug. 24, 2015 that his office is considering the possibility of seeking an injunction restricting the group's activities in Minnesota after the national right-to-die group was fined $30,000 for assisting in Dunn's death. (Glen Stubbe/The Star-Tribune via AP, File) MAGS OUT; LOCAL STATIONS OUT; ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d25045f166e7423792da3ef87f713edb/right-die-group-heads-sentencing-womans-suicide

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I'm terminally ill. I've said several times I'm not going out on FTD's terms.

OS

[whatthehey]

1. If they start a gofundme I'll help. This should be a basic right for all.

[jtuck004]

2. This fella is no better than a prison guard at Nuremberg. Watched my mom die, from the time I was 6

until I was 9 or so, dying at home. It's a different world today, but not that much. I would never let this ass clown, or any other, get in between me and helping someone I love.

My morals are not nearly as confused as theirs. If they even have any.

[progree]

3. "criminal cases are pending against two Final Exit Network members"

^^-- from the last line of the story.

So we're talking about A LOT MORE than the fine -- which Rivas (Final Exit's attorney) says "the donations generated by the publicity surrounding this case have exceeded the amount of the fine."

[truthisfreedom]

4. Ugh. The stupid!

THE STUPID!

[Hydra]

5. You shouldn't have to submit to their demands- it's your body and your life

Solidarity OS

[Downwinder]

6. Is James Backstrom going to prosecute

the next suicide-by-cop as an assisted suicide?

[smirkymonkey]

7. K&R