An 85-year-old retired Arizona doctor is facing manslaughter charges for allegedly aiding a woman’s suicide in a Hudson Valley motel room in November, reports said. new york times.
Stephen P. Miller, 85, was indicted Friday on charges of first- and second-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter in connection with an apparent assisted suicide incident on Nov. 9, 2023. Approval or denial was made.
All charges are felonies.
Miller pleaded not guilty Friday and was being held in the Ulster County Jail. He was later released on $1 million bail.
The newspaper said authorities showed up at the Washington Street motel after receiving a report of an unconscious and unresponsive person. times herald record. Police said the woman committed suicide alone in a motel room, but her identity was not disclosed in the report.
Investigators soon discovered evidence that a second person may have been in the motel room at the time of the incident. It was not immediately clear how the second person was a factor in the woman’s death.
It was determined that Miller was not related to the deceased.
After a more detailed assessment of the motel room conditions, investigators turned to the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office to obtain a warrant for Miller’s arrest. Kingston police noted that a person can be charged with second-degree manslaughter if “a person intentionally causes or assists in the suicide of another person.”
But Miller’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, doesn’t see it that way, saying, “Providing advice to end one’s life is not necessarily against the law.” He went on to say the team “believes.”[s] in [Miller’s] Innocence. “
Lichtman added that the woman who died was battling severe chronic pain and felt she had run out of options to deal with it. She did not say whether the woman had a terminal illness, the newspaper said.
Miller allegedly gave the woman books and counseling and eventually traveled from Arizona to New York to witness her death. Lichtman said the former doctor had provided the same service several times recently.
Lichtman admitted he didn’t know the exact cause of death, but said he believed it was asphyxiation and that the woman may have inhaled some type of gas.
“This was done carefully, thoughtfully, and with a lot of research and thought.”
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