The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
31°F
Current Conditions
Overcast clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Assisted Suicide Case Dropped Judge Dismisses Charges Against Woman’s Husband, Son

Associated Press

A prosecutor has dropped assisted-suicide charges against the 77-year-old husband and 50-year-old son of a terminally ill woman who died last December with a plastic bag over her head.

The dismissal issued by state Judge Tim Perigo just before Christmas provides some long-awaited holiday peace for Bernard A. Howard of Belleville, Ill., and his son, Bernard J. Howard of Garland, Texas, a defense attorney said.

“The holiday season is a tough time for them,” Shawn Askinosie, the son’s lawyer, said Tuesday, “since it was about one year ago that his mother did this.”

Velma Howard, 76, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease, was found dead Dec. 9, 1995, in a Joplin, Mo., motel room. She had suffocated after drinking a mixture of sleeping medicine and alcohol and pulling a plastic bag over her head, authorities said.

The Howards have not spoken publicly about the voluntary manslaughter charges, and attempts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.

Askinosie said his client was extremely surprised and pleased that Newton County Prosecuting Attorney Greg Bridges agreed to drop the case during a meeting with the defense lawyer Monday.

“I didn’t ask why. Whenever a prosecutor agrees with me, I just say, ‘Thank you,”’ Askinosie said.

Bridges’ office said he would not answer questions until after the holidays. He had decided in April to put the case on hold because of the possibility that Missouri’s assisted-suicide law could be overturned by the Legislature or the U.S. Supreme Court.

Right-to-die advocates maintain that family members would not have to resort to methods such as plastic bags if doctors were free to prescribe pills in such terminal cases.

The Howard men, who have been free on $15,000 bond, were the first to be charged under Missouri’s 13-year-old assisted-suicide law. They faced five to 15 years in prison if convicted.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AN ISSUE HERE, TOO Appeals courts in New York and Washington have struck down bans on doctor-assisted suicide in those states this year. The Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month on the issue of whether states may prohibit doctors from prescribing life-ending drugs for mentally competent but terminally ill patients who no longer want to live.

This sidebar appeared with the story: AN ISSUE HERE, TOO Appeals courts in New York and Washington have struck down bans on doctor-assisted suicide in those states this year. The Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month on the issue of whether states may prohibit doctors from prescribing life-ending drugs for mentally competent but terminally ill patients who no longer want to live.