Man Convicted of Helping Roommate Commit Suicide

A Tujunga man was convicted Monday on felony charges of helping his roommate commit suicide by handing him a loaded shotgun and urging him to “Just do it.”

The guilty verdict in the trial of Alex Coventry may be the first conviction in the state under a rarely used, 121-year-old assisted suicide law that prohibits aiding, advising or encouraging a suicide.

After two days of deliberations, a Van Nuys Superior Court jury determined that Coventry, a 44-year-old recovering alcoholic, was criminally liable in the July 2, 1993, suicide of Leonard Medina, a 42-year-old unemployed man.

In interviews after the conviction, jurors said they focused on Coventry’s actions and the state law, ignoring any parallels with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the retired Michigan pathologist who has admitted helping 20 terminally ill patients to their lives.

“We understood this wasn’t a Kevorkian case and we weren’t here to judge whether suicide was right or wrong,” said juror Gregory Brown of Tujunga.

Judge Ronald S. Coen is expected to sentence Coventry this morning. He faces up to three years in prison.

After a day of drinking with Linda McDowell, Coventry’s girlfriend, at the Tujunga apartment the three shared, Medina was despondent over an eviction notice and his bleak financial situation, according to testimony. He threatened to kill himself, as he had many times in the past.

Coventry admitted to police that he handed his roommate a loaded shotgun and told him to “stop talking about it.” Although he did not testify on his own behalf, Coventry maintained during a tape-recorded police interview that he had no idea Medina would actually put the gun to his chest and pull the trigger.

Coventry should have known Medina was serious about his threat because his friend had previously attempted to kill himself, jurors said. McDowell told police the shotgun was hidden out of fear that Medina would use it on himself.

Coventry “had choices, he had options, he didn’t have to contribute to the whole act,” said jury foreman Bart McPhail of Valencia.

“I think ultimately we all believed that Alex was truly sorry after the fact . . . but we couldn’t ignore that it was after the fact,” McPhail said.