Michael Levy secures murder acquittal – first time that “loss of control” has succeeded in a case of mercy killing

Michael Levy (instructed by Levy & Co) defended a client charged with murder. The client, had picked up his dying mother from a hospital bed and carried her to a balcony from which he threw her to the ground below, and her death. He accepted that he was guilty of manslaughter. He admitted that he had killed his mother and had intended to do so but said that at the time he had a “loss of control”.

At the time his mother was in an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease, had dementia and was expected to live for about a week.

He gave evidence that his mother had been in increasing amounts of pain and that he had asked for medication to be given to her to alleviate her suffering. When he later discovered that she had not been given adequate pain relief and that her suffering had increased, he had a loss of control.

He was found not guilty of murder.

He admitted manslaughter and was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment suspended for 24 months.