Judge: State must return funds to right-to-die group

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The state must return $330,000 seized in February from the Marietta-based Final Exit Network, a judge has ruled.

Authorities seized the funds after four people affiliated with the right-to-die group were charged with helping a nonterminal cancer patient kill himself by inhaling helium.

Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley ordered the money returned last week, saying the state had not filed a complaint  justifying the seizure. That complaint is required under the RICO law.

"The State has had approximately seven months to file a post-seizure complaint and has failed to do so," Bagley wrote.

Forsyth County District Attorney Penny Penn said her office didn't receive all the evidence gathered by the GBI until a month ago, and needed more time. But Bagley said the state had enough information in February, when it obtained search warrants for Final Exit's bank accounts.

Attorney Robert Rivas, who represents Final Exit, applauded the ruling.

"They think they can seize money and do nothing to justify it, and obviously that can't be the law in America," Rivas said.

Rivas said the vast majority of the $330,000 "came from people who made contributions to engage in their First Amendment-protected right to advocate publicly for choices in dying."

Penn called the ruling procedural.

"It just means we can't continue to hold the money while the case is pending," she said. "The judge wasn't making a decision whether this is a criminal enterprise...or whether this money was used to perpetuate a criminal enterprise."

Penn said the state won't appeal the ruling, but will pursue the money in a civil case under the racketeering law.

In February, authorities arrested four people in connection with the June 2008 death of 58-year-old John Celmer at his  Cumming home. They were arrested during a sting operation in which a GBI agent posing as a cancer patient asked for help to end his life.

Final Exit Network founder Thomas "Ted" Goodwin of Kennesaw and Punta Gorda, Fla.; Claire Blehr of Atlanta; Dr. Lawrence Egbert of Baltimore; and Nicholas Alec Sheridan of Baltimore were charged with assisted suicide, tampering with evidence and violation of the RICO Act. They have been released on bond.

"We're reviewing and preparing the case so we can present it to the grand jury for indictment," Penn said.