California law under PC 401 makes it unlawful for any person to encourage or assist another in committing suicide. Whether you succeed in assisting or encouraging the person, you can face felony charges, punishable by a maximum of three years in state prison. This grave offense can result in life-changing penalties and severe consequences, including a devastating criminal record. The law applies to all people, including family members and friends of a suffering patient.

However, if you are medical personnel, you are exempt from persecution under this statute if you act according to the End of Life Option Act. You must demonstrate your innocence during the trial so the court can find you not guilty of the crime. A skilled attorney can help you build a solid defense to avoid a conviction and the resulting consequences.

The Legal Meaning of Assisted Suicide

Suicide occurs when a person deliberately ends their life. If another person encourages or assists another person to commit suicide, they can face criminal charges under PC 401. The law prohibits suicide and assists suicide as it disregards human life. This explains why these are severely punished offenses under California law. You can violate this statute in so many ways. For example, you are guilty if you offer or obtain sleeping pills for a partner who wants to end their life. You can also face charges if you help a cancer patient end their life of suffering, whether they are your parent, sibling, or friend.

This law applies to anyone who willfully assists, encourages, advises, or offers information to help another person commit suicide. Your charges will apply even if the person fails to end their life. What matters is that you assisted them, in any way, to end their life. However, you are not guilty if you act according to the End of Life Option Act.

For the court to find you guilty of PC 401, the prosecutor must prove this crime's elements beyond a reasonable doubt. These elements (also called the facts of the case) include the following:

  • A person committed suicide or attempted to commit suicide
  • You assisted, advised, aided, or encouraged them to end their life
  • Your actions were willful or deliberate

If you encourage, aid, or advise a person to end their life, but their attempt to do so fails, you are not guilty of assisted suicide but attempting to help suicide. This, too, is a severe crime whose penalties will depend on your exact actions. The judge will determine the appropriate penalties for you depending on the details of your case and your criminal history.

Example: Susan has been caring for her mother, Janet, for months. Janet was diagnosed with cancer months ago, and despite all the efforts by doctors to fight the disease, her condition has been worsening by the minute. For a few weeks now, Janet has been complaining of excruciating pain, which makes it difficult for her to sleep. Susan has been spending sleepless and tiring days by her side.

The other day, Janet asked Susan if she could help end her pain by obtaining a high dose of pain medicine or sleeping pills from the local drugstore. Susan is scared, but she is tempted to help her mother, at least to end her pain.

If Susan gives her mother the sleeping pills that end her life, she could be charged under PC 401, even if it was at her mother’s request. On the other hand, if she obtains the pills, but someone reports the matter before Susan gives her mother the pills, she can face charges for attempting to aid in suicide.

When prosecuting assisted suicide cases, here are some issues the prosecutor must consider:

If Suicide is an Offense

Ending one’s life is typically not an offense in California. Although it is among the highly prohibited acts in the state, it does not result in criminal charges if the person fails to end their life. However, suicide has a criminal element in specific situations. For example, if you are engaged in a suicide pact with another person and there is a failed attempt. A suicide pact happens when at least two people decide to end their lives, and they agree to use the same means to end their lives.

For example, if two people decide to jump on a cliff to their deaths or to end their lives through carbon monoxide poisoning. This technically means that one person is assisting the other in committing suicide, which is essentially a crime. If only one party dies and the other survives, the survivor can be charged with assisted suicide.

What Mercy Killing Entails

Mercy killing occurs when a person takes the life of another person because the person does not wish to continue living. People who commit mercy killings administer lethal doses of painkillers or sleeping pills. Mercy killing or euthanasia is prohibited in California and all the other states.

What End of Life Option Act Entails

This section of the law allows registered physicians to assist critically ill patients in ending their lives. This law, which took effect in 2016, is also called the Right to Die or Death with Dignity. Under this law, a patient can request a physician to prescribe a life-ending medication if they do not wish to continue living or suffering. However, there must be medical proof that the patient has a maximum of six months to live due to a terminal illness.

The patient making the request must be in their right mind and be a state resident. They must also be adults of at least 18 years and should have the ability to take the drug by themselves. Remember that this statute only applies if these conditions are met and the patient is terminally ill. If not, such an act can result in felony charges for assisted suicide or murder.

Murder Vs. Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide is sometimes regarded as murder since it entails the actions of one person, resulting in the death of another. However, encouraging or assisting a suicide is very different from murder in their legal definitions and penalties. Although these two offenses are felonies, they differ in gravity, with murder being more severe than assisted suicide.

The main difference between the two crimes is whether the alleged offender took a passive or active role. For example, if you furnish a person with information or the means to end their life, your role in their death is passive; in this case, you are guilty of assisted suicide under PC 401. However, if you were directly involved in a person’s death, your role in the crime is active. This makes you guilty of murder.

Murder has more severe penalties under the California law. You will likely receive a 25-year prison sentence or life in prison for a first-degree murder conviction, which is more than you would receive for assisted suicide.

Possible Penalties for An Assisted Suicide Conviction

Assisted suicide is a felony offense in California. If the prosecutor proves all the elements of the offense, the judge will likely sentence you to the following penalties:

  • Sixteen months, two or three years in jail
  • Felony probation
  • A maximum of $10,000 in court fines

The judge can issue a jail sentence or send you to probation. Judges have absolute discretion to make these decisions based on the facts of the underlying case and your criminal history. If you qualify for probation, you will serve your entire sentence out of jail. As you serve your sentence, this allows you to continue living your life, including working, attending school, or catering for your family. However, you will be under strict probation conditions, which the judge will set during sentencing. You must abide by these probation conditions throughout the probation.

Felony probation lasts for between three and five years. The judge can order you to stay out of trouble during probation. This includes not engaging in crime or avoiding being arrested. You could also be required to participate in community service. The judge will determine the number of hours you must work for your community. If you have an underlying issue, like a drug or alcohol problem, the judge could order you to enroll in a treatment program for a particular period. The program must be court-recommended. You must also meet regularly with your probation officer to discuss your progress.

Violating your probation is a grave offense that could result in additional legal issues. The judge can issue you a warning, change your probation conditions to stricter ones, or send you to jail for the maximum period the law recommends for your offense. The exact action the judge will take depends on the precise probation violation and the circumstances of the violation.

Other Consequences of a PC 401 Conviction

A felony conviction results in life-changing consequences. In addition to the criminal penalties you receive during sentencing, you will face other life-changing consequences. For example, you will be left with a damaging criminal record that will be publicly available for a long time. Anyone conducting a background check on you will find out about the conviction. This can change how you will be treated by various people, including your friends, family, potential employers, and landlords. You could miss crucial opportunities like suitable employment because of a damaging criminal record.

A felony conviction will also affect your gun rights. If you are the holder of a firearm in California or occasionally use a gun to hunt, all this could change after a felony conviction. Although adults in California can obtain a license to purchase, use, or possess a weapon, you lose that right once you are convicted of a felony. This means surrendering your firearm or giving up on your hunting hobby for some years or for life.

Record Expungement after a PC 401 Conviction

Fortunately, you can file for the expungement of your criminal record after serving your sentence following a conviction for assisted suicide. Expungement is very beneficial if you are worried about your damaging criminal record. It eliminates all the negative implications and disabilities of a criminal record. The conviction will not appear in your record after a successful expungement. Employers, landlords, and anyone who decides based on your criminal record will not find anything once they run a background check on you.

However, you must demonstrate your eligibility for expungement so the court can grant your petition. You must also file the petition in the same court where the conviction occurred. The judge will consider whether you have completed your sentence and your probation performance. They will rely on a report from your probation officer. If you did well and did not violate your probation conditions, the judge will likely grant your petition.

How To Defend Yourself Against Assisted Suicide Charges

Although assisted suicide is a grave offense with severe penalties, you can obtain a favorable outcome in your case if you put up a good defense against your charges. You can do this with the assistance of a competent criminal attorney. Criminal defense attorneys can use various legal defense strategies to fight criminal charges and compel the judge to dismiss or reduce your charges. They can also introduce mitigating factors in your case to trigger a fair resolution. Here are some of the strategies that could help your defense:

Your Actions Were Not Deliberate

You are guilty of assisted suicide if you deliberately assist, encourage, or help another person commit suicide. Your actions must be deliberate, willful, or intentional. That means you must know the person’s intentions and be willing to assist them in ending their life. If this is not the case, the judge can dismiss your charges.

A skilled attorney can fight this element of your case by proving that your actions were not deliberate at all. They can argue that you were only discussing suicide and various methods a person can use to end their life without intending to equip the person to commit suicide.

Your Actions Were in Accordance with the End of Life Option Act

Remember that you are exempt from prosecution if you act according to the End of Life Option Act when assisting a person to commit suicide. This means you must be a certified healthcare professional, and the person was terminally ill, with less than six months to live. Your attorney will demonstrate other facts of your case, including the fact that the person requested your assistance and they were in their right mental state. The judge will dismiss your charges if the patient’s medical records meet the required criteria.

The Alleged Victim Did Not Attempt to Commit Suicide

Remember that charges under PC 401 occur when a person commits or attempts to commit suicide. This is the first element of your crime, and the prosecutor must demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt to obtain a guilty verdict. If the person did not commit or attempt to commit suicide, you are not guilty. It will no longer matter if you provided the person with information or any other means to end their life if they did not attempt to or succeed in ending their life. If all the case elements are true, but the person changes their mind, the judge will dismiss your charges.

You Are Facing False Accusations

If a spouse or a close family member or relative commits suicide, some members of the family can accuse you of assisting them to end their life. False accusations in cases like these are not uncommon. However, it will be wrong to serve a sentence for a crime you did not commit in the first place. Thus, you need a competent attorney to demonstrate that you were not responsible for the victim’s decision to end their life.

Your attorney can use valuable evidence to counter the prosecutor’s case, including text messages between you and the victim, voicemails, letters, therapist notes (if you were their therapist), or eyewitness testimony. If the victim confided in you their intention to commit suicide, it does not automatically make you their accomplice.

Also, remember that the prosecutor bears the burden of proof in these cases. They must demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that you assisted a person to commit suicide. When this does not happen, the judge dismisses the case.

Find Competent Criminal Attorney Services Near Me

Assisting another person to commit suicide in Los Angeles is a felony offense that could result in life-changing consequences. In addition to the criminal penalties provided under the law, a conviction will result in a damaging criminal record that could affect your life for a very long time. However, you can fight your charges to avoid any other repercussions. This is possible with the assistance of a competent criminal attorney.

The Los Angeles Criminal Attorney has a team willing and ready to assist you through the complex legal process. We will review your case to discuss its legal implications and your options. We will also defend your rights and develop a solid defense for the best outcome. Call us at 424-333-0943 to start this legal journey with us.