Son Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter Charge in Mercy Killing
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MARTINEZ, Calif. — A man who forced a nurse at gunpoint to disconnect his cancer-stricken father’s life-support machinery has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Edward Thomas Baker, 37, entered the plea Wednesday after the prosecution agreed to a reduced sentence of not more than one year in county jail and five years’ probation.
Baker had been charged with voluntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment for the December incident at Brookside Hospital in San Pablo. The father, Edward C. Baker, 69, died within minutes.
One doctor testified at a preliminary hearing that cancer surgery could have prolonged the elder Baker’s life for a year. But public defender Charles James noted that the autopsy said he had “from minutes to days” to live.
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