Oregon "Mercy" Killing May Not Have Been "Merciful"

I have seen cases like this before: Husband kills sick wife, claims she wanted to die. Facts later disclose he was getting some nookie on the side or wished to pursue other agendas. Classic example: George Delury who “assisted” the suicide of his wife Myrna Lebov, who was not terminally ill with MS. As I wrote in Forced Exit, when Delury claimed it was a merciful act, the right to die crowd loudly clamored to his side. Then, it turned out that Delury pushed his wife to kill herself. From my book:

Delury became an instant “victim-celebrity.” He made numerous television appearances, a speech in front of the American Psychiatric Association, and signed a book deal to write his story. Far and wide, he was acclaimed as a dedicated husband willing to risk jail to help his wife achieve her deeply desired end to suffering. He was allowed to quickly plead guilty to a minor crime and served only 4 months in jail...

Delury [later] admitted that he encouraged his wife to kill herself, or as he put it, “to decide to quit.” He researched her antidepressant medication to see if it could kill her, and when she took less than the prescribed amount, which in and of itself could cause depression, he used the surplus to mix the poisonous brew that ended her life. But he went further than that. He helped destroy her will to live by making her feel worthless and a burden on him.

Delury recently killed himself.

Now, the “mercy killing” in Oregon has taken a similar potential turn. From the story:

Prosecutors say a Gresham man who claims he killed his terminally ill wife to end her misery was not the loving, devoted husband he pretended to be. Court documents filed Monday after John Lyle Roberts was indicted on a charge of murder paint a dramatically different portrait of the man who claimed to be a compassionate mercy killer.

For starters, Virginia Roberts wasn’t dying of an illness when she was shot in the head as she slept Feb. 2. And she wasn’t the only woman in John Roberts’ life. Although Roberts, 51, told police and family that his 51-year-old wife was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a doctor who examined her in January told authorities she did not have the terminal disease. Dr. John Ellison determined she was in overall good health but she may have had carpal tunnel syndrome. That could have explained weakness in her hands that is also a symptom of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Previously, I worried here that this case would be the kind that would render the Oregon assisted suicide guidelines practically inoperative. But if these facts are true, obviously the mercy defense won’t fly. But here is the point: It shouldn’t matter whether Virginia had ALS: Killing her was unequivocally wrong and deserving of strong punishment. But I wonder why it has become so fashionable to help kill unwanted spouses and claim it was an act of “mercy.”