California assisted suicide: Arizona nurse Kristie Jane Koepplin injects Matthew Peter Sokalski with lethal drug cause he wanted to die after bad breakup- charged with murder.
An Arizona nurse has pled not guilty to the murder of a friend after allegedly asking her to help him die after a ‘bad break up’.
Kristie Jane Koepplin, a 58-year-old registered nurse from Peoria, Arizona, pleaded not guilty to murder Monday after allegedly injecting Matthew Peter Sokalski, 57, with a lethal dose of drugs in a Mission Viejo, California, hotel in April 2018, the Orange County District Attorney’s office announced.
The single charge of felony murder follows the Orange County Sheriff’s Department launching an investigation into the death of Sokalski after his body was found by hotel staff on April 6, 2018. Koepplin was arrested on October 15th, 2019 WTHR reported.
‘California’s right to die law strictly governs the conditions under which terminally ill adult patients with the capacity to make medical decisions can be prescribed an aid-in-dying medication,’ Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
‘That was not the case here. It is beyond disturbing that someone who is trained as a nurse to aid the sick and the dying would twist their duty to willingly end the life of another human being,’ Spitzer added.
Koepplin’s attorney insisted she is innocent and promised to fight the charges.
‘Their case rests ultimately on inferences made by what they found in the room,’ Michael Guisti told NBC 4. ‘They have no substantial evidence linking my client to the victim’s death. We’re fighting vigorously because my client is innocent.’
Koepplin posted $1 million bail Monday and was released from custody. She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life if convicted, the district attorney’s office said. She’s due back in court on Jan. 7.
If convicted, she faces 25 years to life.
