Petaluma Man Pleads No Contest To Assisting Wife's Suicide

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – A Petaluma man pleaded no contest today in Sonoma County Superior Court to assisting his wife's suicide at a Bodega Bay motel in January.

The plea this morning by David Clement, 65, to the charge of aiding, advising or encouraging a suicide came after Judge Dana Simonds dismissed a felony voluntary manslaughter charge against Clement earlier this
month.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Waner informed Judge Robert LaForge this morning the prosecution is not proceeding further on an appeal of Simonds' ruling.

Clement faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 26. He also is eligible for probation, his attorney Scott Fishman said.

"We're very pleased the District Attorney's Office is not pursuing further and hope for a just outcome and Mr. Clement gets out of custody so he can get on with his life," Fishman said.

Clement has been in Sonoma County Jail since his arrest in January.

At his preliminary hearing, Clement said he helped his 52-year-old wife Debra Bales hang herself from a tree on Jan. 10 because she was determined to end her life.

"The reality was she made the decision to take her own life and he just helped," Fishman said after the plea in court.

Bales was taking several strong medications, including fentanyl, for chronic pain for 18 years,Fishman said.

Bales married Clement so she could be insured on Clement's policy, but when Clement lost his job and insurance, Bales lost access to the pain medications because Medicare would not pay for them, according to Fishman.

Clement and Bales discussed her walking into the Pacific Ocean with rocks or barbells in a backpack, covering her nose and mouth with duct tape and smothering her with a pillow, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing in May.

All of them were impossible, Clement told sheriff's office investigators.

They decided on hanging. Bales tied a rope around her neck and Clements tied the other end around a tree limb in the parking lot at the Inn at the Tides. Bales was sitting on a board, and before he knew it, she
jumped, Clement told investigators.

"The whole thing was I didn't want her to be alone," Clement said.

Bales felt life would be unbearable without pain medication, and Clement did not want her to be alone at the time of her death, Fishman said at the preliminary hearing.

The prosecution argued at the preliminary hearing that Clement was doing more then lending Bales support, and he was active in the planning and the commission of the suicide.

District Attorney Jill Ravitch is planning to release a statement today on the disposition of the case, Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Staebell said.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Petaluma Man Accused In Wife's Suicide Ordered To Stand Trial
• Petaluma Man Jailed For Wife's Suicide Appears In Court
• Petaluma Man Arrested In Wife's Suicide: Sonoma Co. Sheriff
• Voluntary Manslaughter: Petaluma Man Charged In Wife's Suicide
• Husband Accused In Wife's Suicide Pleads Not Guilty

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--Bay City News/Photo courtesy Sonoma County Sheriff's Office