Man Convicted of Assisting in Suicide Gets Probation : Court: Judge also orders Alex Coventry, 44, of Tujunga to perform 500 hours of community work.

A Tujunga man convicted of encouraging his despondent roommate to commit suicide was sentenced to four years probation Tuesday by a judge who called the episode a “tragic case.”

Alex Coventry, 44, who had been found guilty of violating California’s rarely used, 121-year-old assisted suicide law, was also ordered by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen to perform 500 hours of community service.

Coventry gave his roommate a loaded shotgun last July and told him to “Just do it.”

“I am convinced that even the most diligent of advocates for assisted suicide for purposes of mercy would condemn the actions of the defendant,” Coen said at the sentencing proceedings.

The judge made a “strong recommendation” that Coventry do his community service “in the area of suicide prevention,” such as a suicide hot line.

Coventry was found guilty of the felony charge in the suicide of Leonard Medina, a 42-year-old unemployed man who shared a Tujunga apartment with Coventry and Linda McDowell, Coventry’s live-in girlfriend. Medina and McDowell had been drinking heavily most of that day of the suicide.

Medina, who had previously attempted to kill himself, was depressed over a number of issues, including an eviction notice the trio received for not paying the rent on their one-bedroom apartment, according to evidence presented at the trial.

After Medina threatened to kill himself, Coventry handed him a shotgun and told him to “Stop talking about it,” according to testimony.

Coventry maintained that he had no idea his friend was serious about his threats to commit suicide but after the verdict members of the 10-man, two-woman jury said Coventry had the specific intent for Medina to kill himself. Otherwise, they said, he would have handed Medina an unloaded shotgun or called a crisis hot line.

Defense attorney Kenneth P. Lezin on Tuesday said he “strongly disagreed” with the guilty verdict, suggesting the panel blurred the line between specific intent--which was required for the felony conviction--and acting in a negligent manner.

“However, the jury has certainly found that Mr. Coventry has criminal, in addition to moral, responsibility,” Lezin said.

Jurors also said they focused on the facts of the case and state law, stating they saw no relationship between this matter and the controversy surrounding Michigan’s Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist who has admitted helping 20 terminally ill patients end their lives. During the trial, prosecutors stressed that Coventry was not a medical professional and that Medina was only depressed, not terminally ill.

Coventry faced a maximum sentence of three years in state prison, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew R. Flier asked only for “some minimal jail time.”

“I still think that his conduct was completely outrageous,” the prosecutor said. “At the bottom line of this case, he did hand someone a loaded gun and that person is now dead--even though that person was going to kill himself anyway.”

The judge noted that Coventry had no criminal history. The defense attorney said Coventry, a recovering alcoholic, has spent the past 140 days in a “sober house” and has been under a great deal of stress because of the trial and related publicity.

“This was clearly situational and very unusual conduct in an unusual situation,” Lezin said as he asked the judge for probation. “Clearly this situation came up due to lifestyle and due to his drinking as well as his companions he was with.”