Compassionate homicide deaths are usually not compassionate.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Kenzie Beach with Fox News Atlanta published an article on July 8, 2024 about the murder of Brenda Gelleny (65) by her husand Michael Gelleny. Michael Gelleny claimed that it was a "mercy Killing" that he killed his wife to end her pain and suffering. My concern is that the article uses this murder to promote the legalization of assisted suicide.

According to the Fox News report:

Michael Gelleny, 67, called the police on himself telling them he shot his wife Brenda, 65, in the back of the head on July 6 in Goodyear.

He reportedly told police the morning that he killed her, that he kissed her and told her he loved her before getting the gun in the other room and pulling the trigger.

Gelleny reportedly thought about taking his own life, but instead turned himself in. Police paperwork states his reasoning was to make it as quick as possible and put an end to her four years of pain and suffering.

Gelleny is accused of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

It appears by the article that Gelleny originally planned for the death to be a murder-suicide. Another news article stated that Gelleny had been planning the death for a couple of weeks.

The media sometimes jumps to supporting the compassionate homicide defense when in fact these murders are rarely compassionate. Donna Cohen, a suicide researcher, and others prove that murder / suicide is rarely related to "compassionate" homicide.

Cohan stated the following in a Minnesota Tribune article from March 2009:

When people read reports of a murder-suicide they will often ask the question, was this an Act of love, or desperation? Cohen who has researched this question tries to find answers. 

She stated in the article:

That notion is common in murder-suicides, said Cohen, who has testified before Congress, written extensively and helped train families and physicians. She is a professor of aging and mental health at the University of South Florida and heads its Violence and Injury Prevention Program. 

"If they were consulted, families usually would try to stop it,'' she said. "In fact, murder-suicide almost always is not an act of love. It's an act of desperation."

Cohen also recognizes that murder-suicide does not equate with assisted suicide. Cohen stated:

Some people equate murder-suicide with assisted suicide and the right to control when you will die, Cohen said. "It usually is not the same. This is suicide and murder.''

Future reports may or may not uncover further reasons for his action but Cohen's research is clear. These cases are usually an act of murder, not a compassionate homicide.

Further to that the Fox News report stated:

In 2013, 86-year-old George Sanders shot and killed his wife Ginger. He was charged with first-degree murder after his wife allegedly begged him to kill her.

He got two years probation.

By claiming that the murder was based on compassion he may be more likely to get a lesser sentence. 

Even if his wife, Brenda, was experiencing a difficult health condition, she deserved a proper treatment, care and support, not death. The law should also recognize the vulnerability of the spouse in these cases.