[Right_to_die] Press release from the Final Exit Network re the Phoenix accusations

[World right-to-die news (nonprofit)]

Police Use Totalitarian Tactics to Shut Down Non-Profit

May 15, 2009

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Three more senior citizen volunteers from Final Exit 
Network, Inc., an organization of right-to-die activists, have been 
indicted in a widening effort by a small handful of local authorities to
shut down the nationwide not-for-profit corporation's advocacy program.

"These indictments are nothing but a publicity stunt by an activist 
right-to-life prosecutor with little respect for the law," said Final 
Exit Network president Jerry Dincin, of Highland Park,
Illinois.

"The defense costs will temporarily divert all of Final Exit Network's 
resources, but we will emerge stronger than ever after we prove that 
these bogus charges cannot be prosecuted successfully in front of a jury 
of our peers."

Two FEN "exit guides," who provide information and emotional support for 
persons who wish to terminate intolerable suffering, were indicted on a 
charge of "manslaughter" in Phoenix for counseling for providing 
information and emotional support to Jana Van Voorhis before she died in 
the Phoenix area in 2007.

The two FEN exit guides, Wye Hale-Rowe and Frank Langsner, were indicted 
this week by a Maricopa County grand jury on charges of
manslaughter and conspiracy to commit manslaughter. FEN regional 
coordinator Roberta Massey and the FEN's medical director, Dr. Lawrence 
Egbert of Baltimore, were charged with being a part of the "conspiracy" 
in connection with Van Voorhis's suicide.

All the defendants were served with papers this week requiring them to 
surrender in Phoenix on May 26.

Dr. Egbert, as FEN's medical director, reviews the medical records of 
all FEN members who seek counseling and emotional support from FEN 
before they choose to end their suffering. Dr. Egbert
screens the records to ascertain if the individuals are appropriate 
candidates for support under FEN's carefully crafted guidelines.  In 
this capacity, Dr. Egbert was also arrested and charged in February as 
one of the "Georgia Four," all whom were FEN volunteers charged in 
suburban Atlanta, Georgia with assisting in a suicide.

The Phoenix indictment and the Atlanta charges are all part of an attack 
on FEN being coordinated by these law enforcement agencies. Agents of 
these agencies are actively soliciting law enforcement agencies all 
across the country to generate similar charges in the cases of other 
suicides supported by FEN.

Almost unanimously, the other law enforcement agencies are quite open in 
saying they did not take seriously the idea that FEN's mostly elderly 
volunteers were involved in any criminal activity. The
activities sponsored by FEN involve the exercise of core First
Amendment-protected free speech rights, not any legally prohibited 
assistance in a suicide.

In the Van Voorhis case, which is typical of FEN cases, the two 
volunteers responded to the request of a member who had asked for their 
help to end her life. They did so by instructing her on the methods she 
could use. They were present when she took her own life but did not 
actively participate. The investigation was triggered when a relative of 
the member complained to the Phoenix police after she found that the 
deceased had changed her will in favor of another person.

"They are using every trick in the book to shut us down without even a 
trial, including intimidating our members, seizing our board members' 
computers and files and all of our bank accounts," Dincin said. "The 
Georgia authorities have yet to even indict the four arrested. To 
further intimidate our members the police have even charged them under 
the Georgia 'RICO,' or racketeering, statutes, whose legitimate purpose 
is to fight mob and drug crime," Dincin said.

"The Georgia police, who we believe have a very weak case, in addition 
to working with the Phoenix police, have been now going to the police 
departments in other states to harass members who had merely accessed 
the Network's Web site. We believe the current indictments in Phoenix 
are the result of the Georgia police working with the Phoenix
police when neither one has a valid cause to believe any crime 
occurred," Dincin said.

"Those who remember McCarthy era tactics will recognize the same 
ruthless disregard for the law by ideologically driven people in 
authority. Now as then, out of control authorities are making 
unsubstantiated claims, causing Final Exit Network members to be 
unfairly charged. They are then driven to insolvency to defend
themselves," Dincin continued.

"They think they can intimidate us and starve us into submission but 
they will not succeed. We are fighting for the rights of every mentally 
competent person to be in charge of their own life at its end, free from 
the dictates of the state, the clergy or anyone but themselves. This is 
the 21st Century Final Civil Right."

Those who would like to support the Network can do so by going to its 
website, www.finalexitnetwork.org,
or by sending a check to Dalton Baker, Treasurer, at Box 553,  Kingston, 
NJ 08528, or by calling 866-230-2471.
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Contact:
Bob Levine   --  rjl at gurus.org   -    609-924-6328
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Final Exit Network is a five-year-old nonprofit whose stated purpose is 
"Until laws protect the right of every adult to a peaceful, dignified 
death, Final Exit Network will be there to support those who need relief 
from their suffering today."             www.finalexitnetwork.org