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S.W. IA man pleads guilty in assisted suicide case

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December 18th, 2015 by Ric Hanson

A southwest Iowa man charged with assisted suicide in the death of a female companion in 2014 pleaded guilty this week. The Daily NonPareil reports a court order signed Monday, states 59-year old James A. Zingg was given a suspended 10-year prison sentence and two years of probation. Zingg pleaded guilty to a charge of assisted suicide in connection with the death of 47-year old Gwendolyn N. Melloway, in January 2014.

Zingg was prosecuted under a seldom-used Iowa law that dates to 1996. The law makes it a felony if someone “intentionally or knowingly assists, solicits or incites” another person to commit or attempt to commit suicide. Nebraska has a similar law on its books.

Officials said Melloway died on Jan. 21, 2014, two days after making a suicide pact with Zingg, then ingesting a lethal cocktail of pills. Zingg also took pills but did not die. Zingg, in a telephone interview later that year, disputed the characterization, saying it was Melloway’s idea to swallow pills, and he went along with it.

The Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her death a suicide caused by an acute drug overdose. After an investigation, Zingg was arrested in June 2014.