Woman, 92, to be sentenced over suicide kit taxes
Source: Agencies |
May 8, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A 92-YEAR-OLD United States woman who sold US$40 kits for people to kill themselves faces sentencing for failing to file federal tax returns.
Sharlotte Hydorn faces a maximum term of one year in prison when she is sentenced today (Shanghai time). Both the prosecution and defense agree she should be spared prison and sentenced to five years' probation.
The retired teacher told authorities she knew the helium kits were intended to be used to kill themselves but she said she thought they would be used by the terminally ill.
She pleaded guilty to the tax charge, but under an agreement with prosecutors she will not be charged with involvement in six suicides.
Hydorn began assisting physicians with patient suicides after her husband, Rex, died of colon cancer, said Charles Goldberg, her attorney. Her husband was in "agonizing pain" and did not want to die "filled with tubes in a hospital."
Hydorn felt she could design a helium hood that would be more comfortable for patients than the ones she saw doctors using. She received "thousands" of orders for her hoods and began charging for her time and materials.
Court documents say she sold more than 1,300 kits to people across the US and abroad.
"To Ms Hydorn, her involvement in the suicide kits was an act of compassion and not based on greed," Goldberg wrote.
Prosecutors said she took no steps to verify the physical condition, age, identity or mental state of her customers and therefore had no idea whether her kits were being bought by people suffering from depression or by minors acting without the consent of an adult.
After her home was raided last year, Hydorn said she wasn't responsible for who uses the kit and was only trying to help people in pain. She said she had been in business for three years and sold up to 60 kits a month. Hydorn has pleaded guilty to the tax charge dating back to 2007. She has been allowed to remain free on US$10,000 bond on the condition she not assist any suicides.
Sharlotte Hydorn faces a maximum term of one year in prison when she is sentenced today (Shanghai time). Both the prosecution and defense agree she should be spared prison and sentenced to five years' probation.
The retired teacher told authorities she knew the helium kits were intended to be used to kill themselves but she said she thought they would be used by the terminally ill.
She pleaded guilty to the tax charge, but under an agreement with prosecutors she will not be charged with involvement in six suicides.
Hydorn began assisting physicians with patient suicides after her husband, Rex, died of colon cancer, said Charles Goldberg, her attorney. Her husband was in "agonizing pain" and did not want to die "filled with tubes in a hospital."
Hydorn felt she could design a helium hood that would be more comfortable for patients than the ones she saw doctors using. She received "thousands" of orders for her hoods and began charging for her time and materials.
Court documents say she sold more than 1,300 kits to people across the US and abroad.
"To Ms Hydorn, her involvement in the suicide kits was an act of compassion and not based on greed," Goldberg wrote.
Prosecutors said she took no steps to verify the physical condition, age, identity or mental state of her customers and therefore had no idea whether her kits were being bought by people suffering from depression or by minors acting without the consent of an adult.
After her home was raided last year, Hydorn said she wasn't responsible for who uses the kit and was only trying to help people in pain. She said she had been in business for three years and sold up to 60 kits a month. Hydorn has pleaded guilty to the tax charge dating back to 2007. She has been allowed to remain free on US$10,000 bond on the condition she not assist any suicides.
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