Not Dead Yet, Press Release

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Disability Activists Call For Quick Extradition for "Suicide Minister"

Not Dead Yet, the leading U.S. disability rights group opposed to legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide, wants the expected Irish extradition request for a West Virginia minister handled expeditiously by the Office of International Affairs and the Department of Justice.

George Exoo, a Unitarian minister in Beckley, West Virginia, has admitted he is the one of two men sought by the Irish Garda for his role in facilitating the suicide of 49-year-old Elizabeth Toole Gilhooley, who was found dead in her apartment on January 26, 2002. Investigators in Ireland have been gathering evidence about two men believed to have been paid for facilitating her suicide.

Exoo, who has described himself as a "chaplain in dying" admitted to his role in the suicide in an interview with reporters from a Charleston, West Virginia, newspaper.

Assisting in a suicide is a criminal offense in Ireland. It is also a common law criminal offense in West Virginia.

A request for extradition of Exoo and Thomas McGurrin, his alleged accomplice, may come soon from Irish officials.

"This is a guy who has advertised his 'services,' asking for travel expenses and a donation to his tax-exempt organization, and he claims to have assisted about 100 suicides," says Stephen Drake, research analyst for Not Dead Yet. "He's apparently found a way to live and travel well by exploiting the desperation of others."

Diane Coleman, the group's founder and president, agrees. "According to Exoo's statements to reporters, his final words to Ms. Gilhooley as she smoked her last cigarette were, 'OK, Rosemary, time to put down the cigarette if you don't mind' - that translates to 'you need to quit dawdling so we can get out of here and get on with out European vacation'."

Coleman added, "Since she reportedly already had enough pills and helium gas to complete about 20 suicides without any assistance, it looks like what she found in Exoo was someone to agree that she should die, even push her a little. As a disabled woman, I see his actions as showing total contempt for her life, and it scares me."

According to press accounts, Exoo and his accomplice traveled onto Holland for a pleasure trip after disposing of their "business" with Ms. Gilhooley.