Son charged for assisting mom’s death

Beck is believed to have told officials who found his 86-year-old mother dead when they responded to his 911 call May 16, 2017, that he gave her extra medication and tried to suffocate her for some 10 minutes after she urged him to help end her life. He allegedly said he was not able to kill her and walked into the kitchen of the home they shared for 15 to 20 minutes before returning to find her dead.

Smith is hoping his client’s dedication to his mother’s well-being over the years and writings his mother authored proving she wished for her son to kill her bolster his case that his client should not be facing criminal charges for the actions he took before her death. Beck is facing a nine-year prison term for the two felony charges but is not being charged with first- or second-degree murder because prosecutors cannot definitively show his actions killed her, according to prosecutors.

“It’s sad and it’s unfortunate that under those circumstances, the [district attorney] chose to file criminal charges,” said Smith. “He’s not a criminal.”

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe confirmed prosecutors were precluded from tying Beck’s actions to the woman’s death, noting a pathologist who performed an autopsy on her was not able to determine a cause of death. But he contended Beck’s attempt to take his mother’s life constitutes a crime under California law and prosecutors are obligated to hold him accountable.

“Our job is to hold people accountable when they choose to violate the law and that’s why we’re proceeding with the charges,” he said.

Wagstaffe said a state law allowing those facing death to go through a process to end their lives created a path for assisted suicide when it was enacted in 2016. Put on hold when a judge threw it out in May, the law required those seeking to end their lives to see two doctors who can show they are within six months of death, competence to make a decision of that magnitude and to use an approved process for ending their lives, said Wagstaffe.

Wagstaffe could recall three prior instances in the county in which the spouse of an elderly individual had assisted in ending a life, and that in all three cases, the defendants died before the cases were adjudicated. He added whatever Beck’s motives were, he didn’t have a right to end his mother’s life on his own.

Having worked in banking and finance for several years and previously divorced, Beck was financially well-off and better equipped to care for his mother than his two sisters, who live in San Bruno and Berlin, Germany, and both of whom have families and obligations preventing them from caring for her, according to a motion to reduce bail Smith submitted to a judge last week. Beck left his work in Zurich, Switzerland, to move in with his mother in 1998, the year she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and has been volunteered with local nonprofits and organizations since he moved to California, according to the same motion.

Smith was successful in reducing the $10 million bail initially set for his client to $1 million. Beck will next appear in court June 22 for entry of plea and to set a preliminary hearing date.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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