The prosecution of four euthanasia activists continues in Georgia, as a grand jury indicted four members of the Final Exit Network March 9 with assisting in a suicide, racketeering, and tampering with evidence, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

As we reported in Today's News & Views last year [http://www.nrlc.org/news_and_Views/Feb09/nv022709.html], Thomas "Ted" Goodwin, Claire Blehr, Dr. Lawrence Egbert, and Nicholas Alec Sheridan are accused of helping John Celmer, 58, kill himself in 2008. The four helped Celmer obtain helium, which was pumped into a plastic bag around his head until he suffocated to death, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Although the death initially seemed natural, investigators later discovered that Goodwin and Blehr held Celmer's hands as he died and removed all evidence of the assisted suicide, according to the Associated Press (AP). Celmer's family had called authorities after they found information from the Final Exit Network and a receipt for helium tanks.

In addition, although Celmer had been treated for throat and mouth cancer, doctors had declared him "cancer-free" at the time of his death, according to the AP. According to authorities, Celmer may have been depressed and concerned about how he looked after jaw surgery, the AP reported.

"The fact is that he was going through deep depression, and his wife was just shocked when she found out about this," Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition told OneNewsNow. "She had no idea he was going to do this, and she said he was just cleared of cancer. He was just getting better but he was still very much upset."

The arraignment is scheduled for April 1. The four defendants could receive up to 35 years in prison if convicted on all charges, according to the Journal-Constitution.

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