X-Message-Number: 31413
From: "J Coetzee MSc" <>
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Subject: 4 arrested in Ga. assisted suicide sting
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:01:42 -0500

4 arrested in Ga. assisted suicide sting
Operation by GBI results in accusations believed to be first of their kind
in state.

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The death had been planned for months, authorities say. Two helium tanks
were purchased, along with an "exit bag," or hood to be placed over the
suicidal man's head.

Thomas "Ted" Goodwin, 63, formerly of Kennesaw, and Claire Blehr, 76, of
Atlanta, would observe the death of the man they were told suffered from
pancreatic cancer. In truth, the man was a Georgia Bureau of Investigation
agent conducting a sting operation at a residence in Dawson County.

On Wednesday, authorities say, Goodwin walked the undercover agent through
the steps that would have killed him. He demonstrated how he would hold down
the undercover agent's hands to prohibit him from removing the "exit bag."

At that point, other agents moved in and arrested Goodwin, said GBI
spokesman John Bankhead. He, Blehr and two men in Maryland were taken into
custody on charges they helped John Celmer, 58, of Cumming, commit suicide
by the same method last June.

Celmer's family found his death to be suspicious. They contacted the Cumming
Police Department, which led to the GBI's involvement.

Bankhead said agents found evidence in Celmer's house linking him to the
Final Exit Network, a Marietta-based volunteer organization -- of which
Goodwin is president -- supposedly dedicated to serving individuals who are
suffering from an incurable illness or intolerable pain.

Blehr was one of those volunteers, Bankhead said. She wasn't present when
Goodwin was arrested; she was apprehended after being in a minor car
accident en route to Dawson County.

Bankhead said the woman was with John Celmer the day he died.

Blehr and Goodwin were charged with assisted suicide, tampering with
evidence and a violation of Georgia's RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations) Act. Officials said these were the first arrests they knew of
for assisting a suicide in Georgia.

According to the Georgia criminal code, "'intentionally and actively
assisting suicide' means direct and physical involvement, intervention, or
participation in the act of suicide which is carried out free of any threat,
force, duress, or deception and with understanding of the consequences of
such conduct."

The maximum penalties facing the defendants are five years in prison for
assisting a suicide, three years for tampering with evidence and a possible
20 years for the RICO violations.

In Maryland, authorities arrested Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81, and Nicholas
Alec Sheridan, 60, both of Baltimore.

Jerry Dincin, a retired clinical psychologist and vice president of Final
Exit, said in a telephone interview Wednesday night that volunteers do not
assist in suicides.

"We observe. We hold hands. We offer psychological support," he said. "We
are very passive."

The GBI alleges that the four charged were not mere observers, but
participants in Celmer's death.

The Cumming man was not terminally ill, Bankhead said. "He had had cancer of
the jaw, but that was under control," the GBI spokesman said.

John Lemac, who lived two doors down from Celmer, said his neighbor did not
seem preoccupied with death.

"He talked a lot and never once said a word about suicide," Lemac said.

Goodwin had no trouble talking about the issue. In a February 2006 interview
with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he talked of watching his father die
after an agonizing 10-year battle with emphysema.

"That made me decide to get active," he said. Goodwin was described as a
driving force in the right-to-die movement by Derek Humphry, author of the
best-selling book "Final Exit."

In the interview, Goodwin said he had already witnessed the deaths of 12
people who had come to Final Exit looking for a way out.

"We feel there will be a prosecution based on political reasons," he said.

"But we are willing to take that risk to do the compassionate work that
needs to be done."

Blehr's former husband, Mike Thatcher, described the longtime Atlantan as "a
gentle person, a compassionate person."

Thatcher, who lives in Dayton, Tenn., said Blehr once volunteered with an
organization that provided dogs for the elderly and very ill.

Investigators remained at her home off LaVista Road in northeast Atlanta
well into the night Wednesday.

Bankhead said agents are looking for additional evidence at 16 locations in
seven states.

In the Dawson County case, the GBI alleges that Final Exit did not request
any confirmation of the undercover agent's claim he had pancreatic cancer.

"They didn't even check to see if this was his actual residence," Bankhead
said.

Dincin said he doesn't believe his associates are guilty.

"It would have to be extremely untrue if it involves Ted," said Dincin, who
said he knew all of those charged except for Blehr.

He said Egbert is Final Exit's medical adviser who determines whether those
seeking to die meet the group's guidelines.

"We tell them to read a book ('Final Exit') and we tell them that, in our
experience, this is a lot better than pointing a gun and blowing your brains
out," said Dincin, who joined the group after being diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer, currently in remission. "Our policies forbid any direct
involvement."

The suspects will be prosecuted in Forsyth County. Goodwin and Blehr were
being held in Forsyth County jail late Wednesday night.

Staff writers Chris Reinolds, Doug Nurse, Rhonda Cook, Nancy Badertscher and
David Markiewicz and researchers Nisa Asokan and Joni Zeccola contributed to
this report.

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