E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSPaul Stephen Bricker, a 27-year-old sailor, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday for fatally stabbing Navy Chief Gerard Curran on July 30, 2009, in Virginia Beach, Va.
The stabbing was part of a plan developed by Curran to die by suicide, but make it appear as though he had been murdered to ensure his family would receive government benefits, according to a statement released by Harvey L. Bryant, the Commonwealth Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach.
Bricker worked under Curran and "looked up to the chief," according to court documents. Bricker told police that Curran wanted his help to make the death look like a robbery. In April 2009, Curran had stabbed himself in the chest and claimed that an intruder had attacked him, but an investigation found the wound was self-inflicted.
In July 2009, the two agreed to meet in a local park, where Curran choked himself with a rubber physical therapy band until passing out. After a few minutes, Bricker stabbed Curran once in the chest and then left with the knife and rubber band.
"The defendant said that he had stabbed Mr. Curran because Mr. Curran had asked him to help him," the court document said. "The investigation revealed no benefit, pecuniary or otherwise, to the defendant for his role in the victim’s death."
Curran was eventually found in the park after his estranged wife, Dawn Curran, reported him missing. Bricker became a suspect in the case after he told a friend, and the confession was eventually shared by another party with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Macie Pridgen, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney, told NBC News.
The case, which did not go to trial, was investigated by both the NCIS as well as local police. Bricker pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in April; Circuit Court judge Thomas Padrick suspended five years of the term upon sentencing Bricker on Monday.
“You allowed the chief to do what he did, and then you stabbed him. No one has the right to take another’s life," Padrick told Bricker prior to the sentencing.
Bricker did not seek help for Curran or report his suicidal thoughts, according to Bryant's statement.
In a statement read in court on Monday, Dawn Curran said Bricker should have told someone that her husband had planned to die.
"That's what a real friend would do," the Virginian-Pilot reported her as saying. "I find assisted suicide the equivalent to murder."
Bricker apologized prior to the sentencing. "I am deeply sorry," he said. "And I wish I could take it all back."
Rebecca Ruiz is a reporter at NBC News. Follow her on Twitter here.
More content from NBCNews.com:
Leave a Comment:
Sad story. Here's a good sailor joke to cheer us all up:
Q: What did Captain Hook die from?
A: Jock itch.
I agree, that is a very sad story with no easy answers.
No easy answers? Baloney!
How about the sailor should have pulled his head out his A$$ and got the chief some help rather than helping him to kill himself! How is that for an easy answer.
Todd's right. How can anyone be so stupid?
With all the entrance exemptions now is anyone surprised this is happening and Marines are killing puppies on film and Army guys are pissing on corpses or giving war prisoners handyj's. Same thing that is happening to our police forces around the USA. If a book was written on how to successfully complete an empires downfall the first thing they should write is put thugs and idiots in positions as police and armed forces. Raise the wages and benefits for people risking lives for politicians goals to what the liar politicians make and this problem will not exist because people with common sense would then probably apply for the job instead of thugs that have nothing better to do.
@Ophotfoot
What a dumbass comment. You've clearly not done a single day of public service in your life. You're nothing more than a cop bashing, military hating pain in the a**. (and I'm being polite) That's like saying all civilians are pukes because a few bad apples do rotten things. SMH @people like you.
Well, there goes my screenplay.
I don't see it as an equivalent of murder, wrong yes. It is cowardly, however, of someone who wants to take their life though to seek out someone, especially someone who looks to him as a leader, to "finish it off". I get the wanting benefits for your family financially, however, what you've chosen to do has not only destroyed your family, but it destroyed another family as well. Suicide is a choice that I feel anyone has the right to, but don't enlist others to help you and make sure you are very aware that you are leaving your family behind with broken pieces to pick up.
I have had 2 people in my life commit suicide. One mentally ill, one just exhausted from life. Both made a personal choice. One had been seeking help for years and receiving multiple treatments, one no one had any clue that she was that tired of it all.
In the end, it is what it is and I am sorry this Sailor was dragged into it. I am sure from his eyes he was helping. In the end, he is called a murderer by the mans wife. Sad story.
Nope, after your long explanation. A man STABBED another in the chest and killed him. Should have been Murder, next case........
With your thought process all military men and women who have shot at or killed another should be tried for murder... especially those caught in the fire.
SD, I think your missing the point. This is not in battle. The guy shoved a knife into a mans chest voluntarily to milk benefits out of the government. Your case holds no water.
This is at least Voluntary Manslaugher as he was convicted by a court.
The sailor was helping the chief. Well, now that it has been proven suicide, his family should lose the government benefits!
The benefits still pay even with suicide. They always have. There have been cases of being killed while running from the police high on coke and the benefits paid. Ask any CACO qualified person to verify. Should they pay, probably not, but the family did not plan it or plan to have to make their way through life without the breadwinner. They deserve something unless they helped.
SDMN: I agree with you completely.
As for murdering in the name of battle, people will tell themselves anything in order to justify their actions. Killing is killing. Whether it be out of anger, in battle or in the gas chamber. Dead is dead.
SDMN, he stabbed him. How is that not murder?
Killing someone else does not always equal murder. That's how. He wasn't convicted of murder, either.
Sad.
This is just so, so weird. Why didn't the sailor help him get some mental health care?
Nope, that's a one-way ticket right out of the military. Ask for help, they'll show you the door.
I agree. In the military mental health is a sign of weakness... sad world.
Not only that, you will lose any chance of ever holding a gov job or being a federal contractor. The help you would receive would be mediocre at best.. I do wonder how he convinced him to go along with it though..
If he stabbed himself earlier, why didn't he receive help?
cms5 That is a very good question. The chief was caught stabbing himself and received no help from the US Navy.
Poorly planned and poorly executed. There are vastly better ways to pull off something like this, get away with it, and implicate absolutely no one else in the process.
I did get a chuckle from this though:
So SEAL Team 6 did not have the right to put a bullet in bin Ladin?
The operative known as "Bodycount" in Operation: Desert Fox didn't have a right to decimate Saddam's troops?
But I know what this guy meant he just should have thought it out a little more first.
I thought that quote was ironic as well, coming from the military.
Apparently in this world, you only have the right to kill those that the government feels should be dead.
SDMN and Indigo: yeah, that is the way it is. When you kill someone under orders or during a battle they call it WAR. When you kill a suicidal friend, they call it homicide.
One of the oldest conundrums is the apparent paradox of God saying, "Thou shalt not kill," yet apparently ordering the Jewish leader Joshua to kill every man woman and child.
It does not make logical sense, but killing another human being, for any reason, does not either.
Obama is the devil and determines who lives or dies. Yes, Obama "the devil" is ruling the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!....I would have never thought the devil would rule America!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing delusional about datadon, no siree. He's fine. Let's just hope he doesn't have access to guns.
datadon, shut the @!$%# up dumbass!
His dumbass would have gotten away with it if he had kept his mouth shut. He got caught because he talked to someone about it. now he is spending 10 years in prison. Whether right or wrong, If you have enough conviction to actually help someone commit suicide, you should be able to keep quiet about it.
A friend I knew once, was having a really hard time, and decided to end her life. She went into a drug store and bought a big bottle of aspirin, 1000 tabs or so, she thought if she eat all of them it would kill her. When she got to the counter the clerk said, after looking at the big bottle of aspirin, "wow you must really have a bad headache" which struck my as being so funny, considering her situation, she burst out laughing, and was so relieved she no longer wanted to die. There is a lot of pain out there in people's lives, hopefully more people can have outcomes like my friend!!
I seriously considered ending my life once. I went through a very harrowing health crisis that peeled away pretty much everything I lived for. It was an extraordinary life. I confided at the time to one dear friend . He talked me through it, told me he understood, and never told a soul. I value him more than ever for that. The optimist in me won out . All of the things I feared did come true but life goes on and I have my good times still. If there was a wrong in this sailors case it was the chief asking him to help.
I am happy to hear you made it through. I just had the suicide talk with my 10 year old daughter, she was curious. It's a hard one to talk about, but I tried to instill in her the permanency of it all and that if she needs to talk to someone, find someone, anyone. It doesn't have to be me or her Dad. In the end I just hope she realizes how valuable she is as she grows up. So I am glad that you had a friend to talk to.
Unfortunately, for a friend of mine in HS, she felt that hanging herself in her closet was a better option than life. The saddest part of that story is that both myself and three other people went to the counselors office and told them that she has been making some really strange comments about death and dying. When they went to talk to her she said she was fine, no biggy. 1 week later she was dead. To this day I don't know if I made it worse by saying something or if it was inevitable.
Did the chief ask or order him to help with his suicide????
Assisted suicide? The court actually believes this man helped another man die by strangling him and then stabbing him in the chest? This is a case of murder, not assisted suicide, and he should go to prison for just that conviction. He took the life of another person, whether or not it was requested by this Navy Chief, it should have never happened. The sailor should have reported the mental illness of the chief to his commanding officer and sought help for him.
I swear we live in the most screwed up derranged country in the world, where we have mass shootings every other day and people "assisting" others to die (supposedly in this case, which is hard to find believable)
In July 2009, the two agreed to meet in a local park, where Curran choked himself with a rubber physical therapy band until passing out. After a few minutes, Bricker stabbed Curran once in the chest and then left with the knife and rubber band.
Read much?
Well the man was already suicidal, and had attempted to stab himself once before.
In many parts of the world, suicide is considered honorable. Even in American culture, we call a guy a hero if he rides his airplane into the target rather than bail out and miss. But woe to you if you have your own reasons for 'checking out". Our laws comes from the Catholic church centuries ago as a means to control the pesants, since most peasants "belonged" to someone - the laird, or the nobleman, etc. And the church created moral rules to support the nobility. These days, the insurance companies have more to do about fighting suicide law reform than the Church.
Once the CHief had made the decision, our current laws gave him little choice as to what to do next. As a friend, I would do my best to talk him out of it, but as a friend, I would respect his wishes. America needs to change it's laws on suicide and then make the insurance companies howl when they have to pay out. Or not.
If anyone I knew wanted to commit suicide-----I would try to reason with them as to why?-----then, if they insisted--I would say "go right ahead"-------to assist---- "I may be crazy, but I am not stupid"---there IS a difference!!
Some insurance policies may exclude any death by suicide, but there are certainly policies out there that only exclude it if it occurs within some time period (one year, two years) from the inception of the policy. I don't see insurance companies dragging their feet against changes in suicide law. In fact, I really don't see any movement toward changing the law relating to suicide except in the limited circumstances of medical extremity.
As one who believes that the terminally ill ought to have the right to seek their own way out without societal interference, I have to wonder what it was that made the Navy Chief want to take his own life. He wasn't elderly, or otherwise near death...was it Depression? That's treatable....not as easy as taking a pill like they show on the drug ads on TV, but it is treatable, and beatable.
I agree that adults ought to have the right to decide for themselves when it is time to go. I'm not sure it's appropriate to find friends to help with the act, but if one wants to do away with themselves in a way that is quick, painless, and foolproof they should be able to pay for voluntary injection in a medical setting.
I know depths of depression. In fact, I wasn't supposed to be alive to read this today. The plan was to overdose, but I didn't go through with it because I wasn't absolutely sure of the outcome. I could be in the hospital having my stomach pumped and finding out I have extensive liver damage instead.
Depression is treatable, but not for everyone.. at least not in conventional ways, say pills and counseling. For those who exhaust all avenues of treatment possible, lethal injection should be made possible. It's not selfish to want to die, nor cowardly, in cases where one can't find any peace in life. It is selfish, however, when friends and family members seek to keep someone alive for their own benefit.
The last thing anyone wants to acknowledge is that suicide can be the best option in certain circumstances. But yet it is. I have yet to exhaust all alternatives (ECT, VNS, experimental etc), so I will wait for now. Perhaps the Chief had not sought help in the past, which would mean it was a premature death. If he had tried everything available, maybe it was his time. It was unfortunate that the sailor got involved, in any case.
Disagree, depression can be treated in some cases, but not all. One should think long and hard before taking their own live, but it cannot be ruled out for everyone.
If someone wants to die, people should be allowed to help them. It's not easy to do always, and sometimes a little help goes a long way. Sometimes life just keeps getting worse and worse, and will never improve. Justifiable suicide may be the only option people have left. It's sad in our society that people look so far down on suicide and do not allow people who are permanently depressed a way out.
"Commiting suicide is one thing---------however, helping someone do it is another!"
The kid is a moron!!-----as for anything being a secret--"If more than one person knows, then it isn't a secret anymore!!"
Here's another chance for Obama to get some votes...He should pardon this guy under the promise that the guy and his family will vote for him. Why not he's pandering to just about anyone these days. Here's hoping for some real change in 2012...See ya loser boy and thanks for nothing
Wow. It took almost 2 hours for someone to inject politics into an otherwise apolitical story.
I was going to say almost the same thing, Annie: I had to scroll all the way down to the last comment to see someone finally bring Obama into this.
If there isn't one already, I think we should declare "Annie's law"
The length of time it will take a reader to blame a political candidate for an otherwise apolitical news story is inversely proportional to the IQ of the reader involved.
Annie........Life and death in the US military is very political.
I agree with RonB. But until Annie's Law is implemented, we can expect some troll to blame Obama, illegal immigrants, homosexuals, abortion, liberals, or just post "John March 16" (whatever that's about). ;-)
Both needed psychiatrist, too bad they did not seek help.
And since they now have proof that he was the one trying to commit suicide so his estranged wife could recieve military benefits, guess how many benefits she gets now. About 0. great plan. Its called fraud.
Course if the chief, how many years did he have in? was proved to be psychiatrically unsound since he had a somewhat long career, Chief is at least E-7, he probably would have gotten a medical discharge with benefits.
She will definately still get the benefits.
Sounds like an E-7 not a Chief. EXEM1SW Disgusted.
Wait till the movie comes out!
"an investigation found the wound was self-inflicted."
"The defendant said that he had stabbed Mr. Curran"
seems like awful conflicting writing.
Mary Beth, the article is written correctly. At one time in his past he stabbed himself and never received any psych help for it. Then attempted suicide again by choking him self with a rubber therapy band and then the other sailor stabbed him in the chest after he passed out. Two different situations talked about in the article.
Reading. Comprehension.
It's important.
I'm confused. The investigation found that the knife wound was self-inflicted yet the sailor admitted to stabbing the man. How is that self-inflicted? If he didn't stab himself, its not self-inflicted technically. as for assisted suicide, I'm for it if a person is terminally ill and only if that person is terminally ill...or James Holmes
Just read the article again. It is clear.
It sounds like murder to me!
"In April 2009, Curran had stabbed himself in the chest and claimed that an intruder had attacked him, but an investigation found the wound was self-inflicted."
What happened when they found out the wound was self-inflicted? A missed opportunity to find out why the Chief wanted to take his own life.
This is a sad situation all around and sounds like alot more was going on.
As a veteran it used to be if you committed suicide while active duty your family received no life insurance payout. They still would get any other benefits. Then it was changed to a one year time frame of having the life insurance policy and then it would pay out for suicide. As of right now, I do not know if there is still a time frame built in for receiving a payout. During both Desert Storm and Desert Shield the government was calling plenty of suicides war casualties so family members could get the life insurance. The suicide rate has gone through the roof in the last 20 years or so. I used to work Mental Health at a VA. The number of psych patients is astounding. The Military does not like to talk publicly about the numbers.
They tend to want to avoid talking about living casualties altogether.
My mother is a mental health medic in the Air Force. I believe she does the psych evals before they deploy?
What a bizzare sequence of events. I feel for the Chief....he must have really been hurting to do such a thing and the individual that attempted to assists him with his request for an insurable death is beyond wicked. Sounds a bit painful as well.
It seems no one walks out of the military in functional condition anymore. I pray for the familes that have to deal with such terrible turmoil sourrounding this event..........Godspeed!!!!!!
who in their right mind would assist another person in this? If terminally ill or something, I could undestand, but someone who was just depressed? You go get this guy some professional help. That is what a true friend would have done.
"just" depressed, Rob? Depression can be very serious; obviously this man's was. Depression is a terrible illness and can cause such emotional and even actual physical pain that one simply feels it imperative to die to stop the pain and anguish.
homesick, i think you misunderstood my point. I was not trying to underplay the seriousness of serious depression. But, to agree to help someone kill themselves, who otherwise, physically, is healthy, I would never even consider as an option.
My counter example to that would be someone who is terminally ill. Then, maybe I could see a friend helping a friend die with dignity. But, in a case where a friend is facing serious depression....a real friend in this situation would get that friend help....whether he wanted it or not.