Under an agreement that spares him from jail, an 85-year-old former Arizona doctor prosecuted for his involvement in the suicide of a woman in an upstate New York hotel room admitted guilt to manslaughter Tuesday.
Under a New York law clause allowing the charge of purposefully causing or assisting another person’s suicide, Tucson’s Stephen Miller was arrested earlier this year on a second-degree manslaughter allegation.
Miller entered a guilty plea in state court and was sentenced to five years of probation under a plea agreement. Miller is infirm, said his counsel, and he did not want to die in prison.
Miller had arrived at the motel in Kingston, around eighty miles north of New York City, from Arizona to be with the woman at death. Nov. 9 housekeeping personnel discovered the woman’s body. The Ulster County District Attorney’s office reported authorities decided the woman had died “using assisted suicide.”
Miller merely gave a woman unable to live with the crippling pain that had dogged her for decades solace and “very slight technical assistance,” according to Jeffrey Lichtman, his counsel before the court. Lichtman claims the woman contacted Miller in response to his work with the advocacy organization Choice and Dignity.
Technically, Lichtman informed reporters, that he broke the law. “We accept that, but with the knowledge that morally Stephen Miller did nothing wrong.”
Miller softly answered questions from Judge Bryan Rounds in court, largely responding “yes” or “no,” until the judge asked him: “Are you pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty of manslaughter in the second degree?”
“By your definition, yes, Miller said.”
After clarifying that the meaning contained in state law was what the judge inquired once more. Miller said, “Yes.”
Miller turned down talking to the media following his presentation.
Miller still favors legal assisted suicide, but his attorney stated he will not help going forward.
Lichtman stated, “That part of his life is over.”
Miller also had two counts of assault first filed against him. In February, he entered not guilty; posted bail, and then went to Arizona.
A book requesting comments was delivered to the district attorney’s office.
Miller had earlier lost his medical license after being convicted of tax fraud in Texas, Lichtman has said. A Department of Justice news release at the time said Miller was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to slightly under four years in prison.
Though attempts to legalize it in New York have faltered in the state Legislature, several states permit medical aid in dying.