ATLANTA—A judge has ordered Georgia to return $330,000 seized from an assisted suicide group in February, saying the state has failed to file the necessary complaint within a reasonable amount of time.
Authorities seized the money after four people affiliated with the Final Exit Network, including the group’s president and its medical director, were arrested and charged with assisted suicide in the June 2008 death of 58-year-old John Celmer at his Atlanta-area home. Celmer suffered from cancer.
Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley wrote in an order filed Oct. 7 that the money should be returned because of the state’s unreasonable delay in filing a forfeiture complaint.
In a seizure warrant, investigators said the money should be seized under the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act.
Don Samuel, a lawyer for the Final Exit Network, argued at a Sept. 29 hearing that the money should be returned because there had been no prompt post-seizure hearing to determine whether the seizure was proper.
“Since when do defendants lose before the case is even tried? We haven’t had a chance to say a word and we’ve already lost,” Samuel said at the hearing. “At this point the reasonable period has long gone by.”
Samuel said the organization’s First Amendment rights were being violated because Final Exit’s assets were frozen, preventing group members from traveling to give talks encouraging a change to laws governing assisted suicide.
Forsyth County Assistant District Attorney James Dunn argued at the September hearing that the filing was delayed because the alleged scheme was complex and officials needed to sort through more than 30 boxes of Georgia Bureau of Investigation files.
“The state’s not trying to do anything untoward, your Honor,” Dunn said at the hearing. “There’s just a lot of information.”
Dunn argued that the organization’s First Amendment rights were not being violated because the group was still putting out press releases and soliciting donations.
District Attorney Penny Penn said Thursday she and Dunn were disappointed by the order.
“However, it doesn’t affect the merits of the case or our pursuing it either civilly or criminally,” she added, noting that the order was based on a procedural matter.
Samuel did not return a phone call Thursday from The Associated Press.
Investigators have said the Final Exit Network may have been involved in as many as 200 deaths around the country.
Georgia authorities on Feb. 25 arrested the group’s president, Thomas E. Goodwin, and member Claire Blehr. According to investigators, Goodwin and Blehr were with Celmer at his home in Cumming when he died, each holding a hand. Investigators said they removed a helium tank and “hood” Celmer wore to help him suffocate.
Maryland authorities on the same day arrested the organization’s medical director, Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81, of Baltimore, and Nicholas Alec Sheridan, a regional coordinator. Investigators said Egbert and Sheridan evaluated Celmer before his death and gave the OK for his suicide.
None of the four has been indicted.
Their arrests came after an eight-month investigation in which an undercover agent posing as someone seeking suicide infiltrated the group, which bases its work on “The Final Exit,” a best-selling suicide manual by British author Derek Humphry.
Members of the Final Exit Network are instructed to buy two new helium tanks and a hood, known as an “exit bag,” according to the GBI. In court papers, investigators said the organization recommends helium because it is undetectable during an autopsy.
