Lawyer: Woman didn’t know pills would kill man
Mar 29, 2012, 8:46 PM
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – An attorney representing a California woman charged with helping an elderly veteran commit suicide says she didn’t know the pills she crushed up into the man’s yogurt would kill him.
Defense attorney David Borsari told the Orange County Register (
http://bit.ly/GW3VTF) Thursday that 65-year-old Elizabeth Barrett thought she was helping 86-year-old Jack Koency (koh-EHN-see) take medication.
Borsari says Koency never told Barrett he wanted to die and she did not consciously help the World War II veteran kill himself.
Authorities say Barrett crushed up a lethal dose of pills and mixed them into yogurt that Koency ate before going into his room, laying down and dying on Sept. 30. Barrett was arrested Wednesday on one felony count of assisted suicide and was released on bail.
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Information from: The Orange County Register,
http://www.ocregister.com
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