The brilliant lawyer who has represented the likes of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman and John Gotti Jr. is accused of murdering a woman who had no incurable disease by committing suicide with nitrogen gas. I took on a new case involving a doctor. York motel room.
Stephen P. Miller, 85, of Tucson, Arizona, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Doreen Broadhead, according to an indictment from the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office. He also faces two counts of assault, documents said.
The office said in a press release that cleaning staff found Broadhead, 59, dead at the Kingston Super 8 Motel on Nov. 9, 2023. Mr. Miller went to meet Ms. Broadhead from her home in Tucson and assisted her in taking her own life using her plastic hood and nitrogen gas.
According to the agency, Miller turned himself in to Kingston Police Station on February 2. The Ulster County District Attorney’s Office announced that he pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on $1 million bail.
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Stephen P. Miller, 85, is accused of bringing nitrogen gas to Doreen Broadhead, 59, from his home in Tucson, Arizona, and then taking it to a New York motel where she was taken. , is facing one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of assault. He took his own life last November, officials said. (Kingston Police Station)
Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said Miller took the gas tank to New York but did not attach the hood to Broadhead, and the interaction was captured on video.
The attorney said Broadhead contacted his client through a national organization that advocates for legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
According to the World Federation, there are 80 organizations around the world that are “right to die” organizations. Eleven states have legalized the practice for terminally ill patients, and last May, Vermont joined Oregon in allowing nonresidents to travel for assisted suicide programs.
Miller is a member of Choice and Dignity’s advisory board, the organization confirmed to Fox News Digital. The Arizona-based nonprofit organization has about 500 members and advocates for “right to die” legislation.
The group hosts meet-ups and workshops, including advocacy training and an “advance directive” class that teaches potential assisted suicide recipients to create a power of attorney and “declare clearly.” . [their] End of life and medical wishes. ”
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Jeffrey Lichtman (pictured) told FOX News Digital that his client “believes that people suffering from illness and pain should have some control over when their lives end.” (Getty Images)
The group also teaches a “Life Completion Class,” which is described as a “how-to” on “ways to promote a peaceful death,” including demonstrations of inert gas methods and inert gas techniques. [a discussion on] Why not use other methods? ”
“Exit guides” — people like Miller who guide prospective recipients through the process — are also trained by the group, according to documents.
“We see Steve’s volunteer work as a noble cause and a compassionate presence for people who don’t want to die alone,” group president Jim Schultz told Fox News Digital. . “We are very saddened to learn of his arrest…As you know, it is not illegal to take one’s own life.”
Schultz said the organization no longer offers “compassionate consultant” services to advise potentially terminally ill patients about their decision to end their lives, but the suspension is more important than Miller’s arrest. Schultz said the group “didn’t have the infrastructure to do that.” Supports functions. ”
Schultz said Miller is one of two board members with a medical background, along with a California-based psychiatrist.
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Kingston Police Department, Ulster County, New York. (Google Maps)
Arizona Medical Board records show Miller’s license to practice expired in 2005, and the following year he was arrested in Texas on charges that he used sham trusts and limited liability companies to hide his income and hid it overseas. He was found guilty in state of one count of federal tax evasion, the Justice Department announced. press release. He was sentenced to just under four years in federal prison and his medical license was revoked in 2009, records show.
Lichtman told FOX News Digital that his client “believes that people suffering from illness and pain should have some control over when their lives end.”
Miller said he counseled the woman for “several months” before their final meeting at a New York motel.
“Sometimes they just want to talk to someone, and I think he wanted to make sure that this was something she wanted to do and that there were no gray areas,” Lichtman said.
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Lichtman said the Ulster County woman had not been diagnosed with a terminal illness, but was suffering from chronic pain. He disputed claims from people close to the case who told Fox News Digital that mental illness may have played a role in Broadhead’s final decision.
“There was no indication that Broadhead was suffering from a mental illness,” Lichtman argued. “If she had, it would have been brought up by prosecutors at her bail hearing, but she wasn’t. There was zero evidence.”
Lichtman also said that Miller’s family, not the Choice and Dignity group, is funding his legal representation.
“We see Steve’s volunteer work as a noble cause and a caring presence for those who don’t want to die alone.”
Miller’s prosecution comes after Canada, which has the world’s most liberal laws regarding physician suicide, last month banned mentally ill people from programs because there were not enough psychiatrists to conduct pre-death evaluations. This was carried out amid postponement of plans to permit.
The country introduced medically assisted dying following a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that called on citizens to cope with intolerable suffering that violates their fundamental rights to freedom and security. The law was expanded in 2021 to include people experiencing “serious and irreversible” conditions such as depression and other mental health problems.
Previously, Jeff Burke, a primary care physician in Southern California, said in an interview with FOX News Digital that the growth of the right-to-die movement is a “terrifying development” for society.
“Legislating and sacralizing the idea of intentionally hastening their death is not, to me, the essence of medicine, it is not the essence of our healing profession, and it is not the essence of what happens in our society in every way. “It’s a symbol of what we’re doing,” Burke said.
“I think it’s a scary step forward for states to legislate the right and authority for doctors to act like gods and facilitate the death of patients and hasten death,” Burke said.
On the contrary, Choice and Dignity wrote in a statement on its website: “They deserve a death as painless and suffering-free as possible.”
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“Every individual should have control over the care they receive at the end of life, including the right to discontinue treatment if it no longer improves their quality of life,” the nonprofit said. “Choice and Dignity strives to help our members take that control and assert their rights.”
