Grand Jury to vet case against right-to-die preacher Exoo

A US preacher faces a preliminary extradition hearing today over his role in the assisted suicide of a Dublin woman.

A Grand Jury in Charleston, West Virginia, will hear evidence about right-to-die activist Rev George Exoo and his contacts with Rosemary Toole Gilhooley, who was found dead in her home in Donnybrook on January 26.

Two gardaí, who have travelled from Ireland for the hearing, may be called to give evidence, although they have been unable to interview Rev Exoo directly.

However, detectives in Dublin, working in conjunction with the FBI, have collected e-mails sent between Rev Exoo and Ms Gilhooley in the weeks prior to her death.

Rev Exoo, 59, is the head of the New River Unitarian-Universalist Church in Beckley, West Virginia, and a support group, Compassionate Chaplaincy, which is believed to have assisted more than 100 people to commit suicide.

Rev Exoo and his associate Thomas McGurrin have admitted being present in a house in Donnybrook last January when Ms Gilhooley, 49, took her own life following several years as a sufferer of anxiety neurosis.

While both men deny playing any active part in her death, they admit providing Ms Gilhooley with instructions on how to commit suicide. Rev Exoo has also admitted receiving $2,500 in expenses for flights and hotel accommodation involved in travelling from the US.

The Grand Jury will decide if the pair should go forward to trial for a full extradition hearing.

Ms Gilhooley's family declined to comment on today's hearing.

"We have all taken the decision not to say anything further on the matter," her brother Stephen Toole said yesterday.

However, Ms Gilhooley's father Owen had previously said he bore no ill will towards Rev Exoo.

"I give him my full blessing. I still feel I owe him," said Mr Toole.

A US anti-euthanasia group, Not Dead Yet The Resistance, has called for Rev Exoo's extradition to Ireland for "exploiting the desperation of others".

The group fears any easing of US legislation on assisted suicide otherwise known as "mercy killing" could put pressure on disabled people to take their own lives.

Doctor-assisted suicide is only legal in the state of Oregon in the US. However, leading US right-to-die activist Dr Jack Kevorkian, known as Dr Death, was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder.

Doctor-assisted death is legal in limited circumstances in the Netherlands and Belgium. It emerged earlier this month that three Irish people have sought help on how to commit suicide from a Swiss-based group called Dignitas.