Petaluma man suspected of aiding in wife's Bodega Bay suicide will be tried for voluntary manslaughter - InsuranceNewsNet

InsuranceNewsNet

Sign in
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Home Now reading newswires
Topics
  • Life Insurance
  • Annuity News
  • Health/Employee Benefits
  • Property & Casualty
  • Advisor News
  • Washington Wire
  • Fiduciary Rule
  • INN Exclusives
  • Newswires
  • INNsider
  • INN Exclusives
  • NewsWires
  • Magazine
Sign in or register to be an INNsider.
  • INN Exclusives
  • NewsWires
  • ★ Regulation News
  • Podcast
  • Magazine
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Staff
  • Contact
  • Susbcribe

Get Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+
Insider
newswires
newswires RSS Get our newsletter
Order Prints Share
May 23, 2018 newswires No comments Views: 9

Petaluma man suspected of aiding in wife’s Bodega Bay suicide will be tried for voluntary manslaughter

Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)

May 23--A Petaluma man who said he helped his wife hang herself this year, tying a rope around a tree on the Sonoma Coast, can be tried on felony voluntary manslaughter and aiding suicide charges, a judge ruled Tuesday.

David Clement, 65, said his wife, Debra Bales, 52, of Petaluma, grew determined to kill herself after doctors ended her prescriptions to the opioid medication she had been dependent on for nearly two decades, He made similar statements in a lengthy 911 call and repeated them during his initial interview with Sonoma County sheriff's detectives. The recordings were played during Tuesday's preliminary hearing in Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Robert LaForge's courtroom.

"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 Jan. 10 after he called 911 from Inn at the Tides in Bodega Bay, telling a dispatcher that "my wife took her life; I helped her," according to the emergency call recording played in court Tuesday.

A state parks ranger found Bales near the inn, hanging from a tree off the side of southbound Highway 1.

Clement's lawyers argued suicide is not a crime in California, and they asked LaForge to reject the felony voluntary manslaughter charge.

California law allows for medically assisted suicide. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the End of Life Option Act in 2015, a state law that went into effect in June 2016 allowing terminally ill people to request life-ending medication.

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.

Scott Fishman, an attorney representing Clement, argued the true culprit was a healthcare system that enabled Bales to become reliant on prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety medications, including fentanyl, hydromorphone, lorazepam, diazepam and benzodiazepine, and then abandoned her.

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 Petaluma.

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 San Rafael.

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.

___

(c)2018 The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)

Visit The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.) at www.pressdemocrat.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Older

As temperatures rise, so does the risk of wildfires

Newer

Orion’s May 2018 Product Updates Empower Financial Planners, Chief Compliance Officers

Advisor News

  • Going Broke Remains Top Concern In Retirement: CPA Survey
  • More Than 1 In 4 Americans Would Consider Divorce Over A Financial Secret
  • Financial Advisors Can Do Some ‘Life Coaching’
  • Commonwealth Financial Network Licenses Its 360° Software To MassMutual
  • The Way We’ve Always Done It Won’t Work With Millennials
More Advisor News

Annuity News

  • Securian Financial Posts Solid 2018
  • SEC Extends Comment Period For Proposed Rules On VA And Variable Life Disclosures
  • ‘Dream House’ Raffle Winner Choice: Historic California Home Or $5M Annuity?
  • RGA Announces Longevity Transaction With Manulife
  • Jackson National Inks Deal To Distribute Annuities To RIAs
More Annuity News

Health/Employee Benefits

  • Insurance Networks, Doctor Referrals Don’t Always Offer Full Picture
  • What Medicare For All Might Look Like If It Really Happened
  • Furloughed Workers Withdrew From Retirement Funds: Study
  • Democrats Roll Out Bill To Let Americans Buy Into Medicare At 50
  • Survey Finds Health Plans Are Struggling With Value-Based Reimbursement
More Health/Employee Benefits

Life Insurance

  • Securian Financial Posts Solid 2018
  • Understanding The Benefits Of Whole Life Insurance
  • Allianz Life Reports Solid 2018 Financial Results
  • Man Who Defraud Union In Life Insurance Scam Sentenced To Probation
  • SEC Extends Comment Period For Proposed Rules On VA And Variable Life Disclosures
Sponsor
More Life Insurance

Sign up for our FREE e-Newsletter!

Get breaking news, exclusive stories, and money- making insights straight into your inbox.
select Newsletter Options

Most Popular

  • Two Words – ‘Keep It’ – At Core Of Elvis Memorabilia Case
  • Empower Women To Protect Their Incomes
  • Genworth Stops Life, Annuity Sales, May Split
  • IMO Numbers Could Shrink by Up to 50 Percent
  • IUL the Life Insurance Star of 2017 Sales

Featured Offers

Text Ads

Press ReleasesAll press releases

  • Great American’s Annuity Customers Share Their Secrets to a Great Retirement
  • Securian Financial Introduces Affordable, Protection-Focused IUL with No-Lapse Guarantee
  • TD Ameritrade Institutional Integrates with iPipeline to Automate New Account Opening
  • RFP R2019-78
  • Bunker Launches Live Certificates of Insurance, A Modern Solution to Insurance Fraud and Non-Compliance
Add your Press Release >

Topics

  • Life Insurance
  • Annuity News
  • Health/Employee Benefits
  • Property and Casualty News
  • Advisor News
  • Washington Wire
  • Regulation

Top Sections

  • INN Exclusives
  • INN Insider

Our Company

  • About
  • Editorial Staff
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Sign up for our FREE e-Newsletter!

Get breaking news, exclusive stories, and money- making insights straight into your inbox.

select Newsletter Options
Facebook Linkedin Twitter Google+
© 2019 InsuranceNewsNet.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • AdvisorNews

Sign in with your INNsider Account

Not registered? Become an INNsider.