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June Hartley pleads not guilty
Lodi woman out of custody in assisted suicide case
STOCKTON — After pleading not guilty to helping her brother commit suicide, June Hartley walked out of court Friday and hugged a dozen supporters, including her mother and a pastor.
Hartley, 42, of Lodi, remains out of custody and will not return to court until April 29. Her attorney, Randy Thomas, asked for the long delay so he could obtain "extensive medical records" relating to the case.
Hartley is charged in the Dec. 7 death of her 45-year-old brother, James "Jimmy" Hartley. He died after inhaling helium, and after a two-month investigation, prosecutors charged June Hartley with one count of assisted suicide, a felony under California law.
The case has received increasing publicity, and Thomas said he has received calls from across the country, as well as British Columbia, from people offering to help the defense.
Adding to that publicity is the Thursday arrest of four people connected to a Georgia-based assisted suicide ring. They are accused of helping dozens of people commit suicide with helium, a method outlined in a book the Hartleys used.
Jimmy Hartley, a well-known blues guitarist, suffered strokes in April 2006. He fell unconscious, and a decision was ultimately made to have brain surgery. A large piece of his cerebellum was removed, and he was disabled and wheelchair-bound, Thomas said in a written statement.
Jimmy Hartley was moved from Modesto to his mother's home in Lodi, where she cared for him. June Hartley ultimately moved home from Berkeley to help.
He was apparently in near-constant neuropathic pain, which he told his mother was "a thousand times worse than hell," Thomas said in his statement.
The pain could not be treated by medication, Thomas added.
Jimmy Hartley begged police, friends and family members to help him die and, after asking June Hartley for 11 months, she agreed.
Her attorney said the act was one of mercy and that she should not be prosecuted.
"Of course there is blackletter law, but law is for the people, and discretion should be exercised in enforcing the law. The human event is complicated," Thomas said in the statement.
Deputy District Attorney Sherri Adams, who was assigned to the case shortly after charges were filed, declined to comment. She did, however, repeat her previous statement that her office "always hopes to resolve cases before trial."
June Hartley faces up to six years in state prison for the charge of assisted suicide, with an enhancement alleging that she caused great bodily injury.
California law does not allow any form of assisted suicide; Oregon and Washington do allow it but only if a physician prescribes it and if the patient is terminally ill. Jimmy Hartley, though in pain, would not have fit that requirement.
Recent assisted suicide prosecutions across the country vary:
Rajasekar Sham helped his cancer-ridden wife slit her wrists, but he survived his own attempts at death. Prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder, but he ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.
He had been expected to be sentenced this month to five years of probation and counseling.
A grand jury had indicted Temple Stuart, 59, for murder, but she instead pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Christopher Burda, 46, was convicted by a jury of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 51-year-old woman who was upset about family problems. He'd given her a gun to get her to "snap out of it," but she instead killed herself as he watched in shock.
Huntington Williams, 70, was instead given probation, a sentenced prosecutors did not dispute. His 66-year-old friend was dying of cancer, and Williams cleaned a gun, helped him walk outside, advised him where to point the gun and then walked away before the man pulled the trigger.
Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.
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Reader Feedback
OTH wrote on Mar 1, 2009 10:23 AM:
May God be with you. You are in my prayers.
Your right Nellie it's time for California to come into the current century. "
Whoa Nellie! wrote on Feb 28, 2009 6:39 PM:
SJUNE74 wrote on Feb 28, 2009 4:38 PM:
Thou shall not kill but people still do that which they should not!!! "
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