"She took the other end of the rope and she jumped," Clement said to the 911 dispatcher. "She just wanted out of her pain. I couldn't see abandoning her."
Clement was arrested
A state parks ranger found Bales near the inn, hanging from a tree off the side of southbound
Clement's lawyers argued suicide is not a crime in
LaForge ruled there was enough evidence for a trial on felony voluntary manslaughter and felony aiding suicide, a decision made after more than four hours listening to sheriff's detectives' testimony and Clement's 911 call and video-recorded interview with detectives.
Clement said he married Bales, a longtime friend, about six years ago to get her onto his health care plan through his work as a grocery store department manager.
Bales lived with her mother in
Bales had been mostly bedridden for the last decade and had chronic pain since 1999 or 2000 when she underwent surgery for a hysterectomy, Clement said.
She experienced daily bouts of debilitating nausea and constipation that lasted hours. For Bales, the thought of going through detox "was just unimaginable," he said.
But Clement lost his healthcare -- and hers -- in October when he was going through his own troubles. He had a manic episode and quit his job, a decision he told detectives was "irrational," costing him his income, health insurance and apartment. He moved into a homeless shelter in
Without private insurance, Bales visited new doctors who had "a new philosophy" about opioid prescriptions and abruptly declined to renew hers, Clement said. Bales took her last dose about a day before she killed herself, he said.
"The defense views this as a massive failure -- a systematic failure -- of the health care system," said Fishman, a public defender.
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