Prosecutors in one leftist state are dealing with a situation in which family members allegedly tried a do-it-yourself assisted suicide on granny, and got caught.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Doughtery in Colorado said it’s “a sad and tragic case” and confirmed the actions were not part of any “assisted death,” which in fact is legal in the state.
It is Raimundo Rojas, of the National Right to Life Committee, who profiled the case at LifeNews.com.
It involves the death of Mildred “Milsy” Roller, 91, in the state where “lawmakers and activists” sold the assisted suicide schemes by promising “narrow eligibility, medical supervision, and meaningful safeguards.”:
However, prosecutors in the case are charging Roller now died, “with a plastic bag over her head, tubing attached to a nitrogen tank, and family members allegedly involved in planning and carrying out the act.”
The report said, “That fact matters far beyond one Colorado courtroom. This case strips away the public relations language that often surrounds assisted suicide. Once a state declares that some lives may be deliberately ended, the culture changes. The old moral boundary weakens. The question shifts from ‘Should we kill?’ to ‘Under what conditions may we kill, and who gets to help?’ That shift invites abuse, pressure, and rationalization. It teaches people to see death as a service, a solution, and eventually a duty.”
The report suggested Roller did not, in fact, have a terminal diagnosis and prosecutors charge that “family members bought equipment, assembled it, discussed details by text, and were present when Roller died.”
Defendants have denied criminal wrongdoing.
“In Roller’s case, public reporting notes that she lived in a facility costing about $6,980 a month and had substantial savings that would pass to surviving children and other beneficiaries. Her defenders say this was about her wishes, not money. Perhaps a jury will weigh the facts. But the existence of inheritance interests in a death like this shows why these cases are so dangerous. The pressure does not need to be spoken aloud to shape a decision,” the report warned.
Further, the Final Exit Network reportedly held a workshop at Roller’s facility, “and one of the defendants allegedly obtained information there about nitrogen asphyxiation.”
While the organization was not charged, the prosecutor said it obtained changes in the group’s practices in the state, including an end of public nitrogen demonstrations and step-by-step equipment instruction.
The report continued, “That danger grows as the numbers rise. Colorado’s reported use of assisted suicide has increased sharply since legalization, from 69 prescriptions in 2017 to 510 in 2024. Advocates treat that increase as evidence of acceptance. A civilized society should see it as a warning. When a lethal practice expands year after year, the burden falls on supporters to prove that the vulnerable remain safe. They have not met that burden. Cases like this one show why they never will.”
A report from Denver’s channel 7 said police officers in Louisville reported finding the woman inside her room at The Lodge at Balfour, an assisted living facility in Boulder County, with a bag over her head connected by a tube to a nitrogen gas bottle. Beside her was a suicide note.
Among the evidence in the case is a text message that said, “She needs to write a suicide note and she really couldn’t today.”
Family members Kim Roller, a daughter, and brother-in-law David Norton, have been indicted by a grand jury on counts of felony manslaughter.
The indictment charges that the inheritance was more than $650,000.