Man Gets Probation in Aiding Suicide

A 63-year-old Garden Grove stroke victim, whose wife died of a gunshot wound in what was to have been a suicide pact, was sentenced Monday to three years’ probation for aiding and abetting a suicide.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Luis A. Cardenas sentenced Jay McFadden to one year of formal probation, during which a probation officer will visit his home regularly, and two years of informal probation.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Kathy Ciccarelli, the McFaddens’ daughter, said after a short hearing Monday in Westminster. “It’s a heavy burden off the family, and we’re glad it’s over.”

“He’s not jumping for joy, but he’s glad it’s over,” Thomas McFadden said of his father’s reaction to the sentencing.

Gladys and Jay McFadden of Garden Grove had been married 38 years. She had suffered from multiple sclerosis since 1976. Last January, the couple made a tape-recorded suicide pact and swallowed large doses of sleeping pills.

But the pills did not kill them.

So, when they awoke the next morning, according to Deputy Public Defender Carol E. Lavacot, McFadden held a handgun to his wife’s chest as she pulled the trigger. She died immediately.

In panic, McFadden, who is partly paralyzed and barely able to speak, called 911. He was arrested and charged with murder.

After a three-day preliminary hearing in Orange County Municipal Court earlier this month, McFadden pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aiding and abetting a suicide, and the murder charge was dismissed.