Carol CarrIn 2002, the Atlanta suburb of Griffin, Georgia, became the epicenter of the age-old debate surrounding euthanasia and one’s right to die with dignity. Throughout the latter-half of the 20th Century and the early years of the 21st Century, the acceptance of euthanasia has increased among healthcare providers and the general public. However, over two decades ago, a mother took her sons’ lives into her hands and decided to end their suffering despite Georgia laws viewing her alleged assistance in their suicide as murder.
Carol Wallace was born in 1939 to James and Mildred Wallace in Clayton County, Georgia. She had three sisters—one older and two younger—and married Hoyt Scott shortly after graduating high school in 1957. Less than two years after they married, they welcomed their first son, Michael Randy, on October 8, 1959. On October 23, 1960, they welcomed their second son, Byron Andy, and their youngest son, James, was born on October 11, 1963. By the time their sons were growing into young men, it was revealed that the Scott family was plagued by Huntington’s disease.
Still an incurable neurodegenerative disease today, Huntington’s disease initially causes involuntary body movements before eventually robbing the individual of the ability to function, including walking, moving freely, talking, and other body functions. Those that suffer from Huntington’s disease are diagnosed in their thirties or forties, often when they are in the prime of their life and beginning to establish their families and careers, only adding to the tragedy of such a diagnosis. And unfortunately, in the case of the Scott family, it is often inherited.
Carrie Scott, Hoyt’s mother and Carol’s mother-in-law, was first diagnosed with the disease in the 1960s. Over time, one of her sons was diagnosed and killed himself, as well as her daughter, Rosalyn, who would eventually succumb to the disease as well. By the time it was revealed that the Scott family had the gene for Huntington’s disease, it was too late—Hoyt and Carol Scott had already begun having children, passing the gene on to their three sons.
In the 1970s, Hoyt was diagnosed with the disease and quickly began to deteriorate. Carol quit her job at a phone company to tend to her husband full-time. For more than two decades, Carol raised her three sons and nursed her husband, who eventually could no longer move, speak, or even swallow. By the time her husband died in 1995, Carol’s two older sons—Randy and Andy—were diagnosed with the disease, and her youngest son James was also starting to experience some of the early symptoms.
After her husband died, Carol married Charles Carr and began taking care of her two sons, both in their thirties at this time, who now needed her assistance to eat, walk, bathe themselves, and go to the bathroom. She helped them take their medication and even navigated Randy’s violent mood swings (another product of the disease). Now in her sixties, Carol struggled with what she should do with her sons. According to the family, she had immense guilt for bringing them into the world where they would only know sickness and disease. By 2002, she knew she could no longer provide the care her two sons required, so she brought them to the SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation Center, where they would live for four months.
The two brothers—now completely bedridden and unable to speak aside from mumbling to one another—shared a room at the nursing home where their mother and younger brother continued to visit them several times a week. Friends and family of the Scotts have suggested that the care at SunBridge was less than adequate when it came to Andy and Randy Scott. James Scott reported visiting his brothers only to find them lying in bed, naked, in their own waste. Another story claimed that their bodies were riddled with bed sores. It’s been suggested that the care (or lack thereof) the brothers received at the center only added to Carol’s stress and guilt.
On Saturday, June 8, 2002, Carol Carr arrived at SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation Center with chocolate milk for both of her sons. As she entered their room, she noticed that her older son, Randy, was clearly in pain—he had been given a catheter due to his bed-wetting. According to Carol’s attorney:
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He’s crying, he’s pulling on the catheter. He’s begging her with his eyes. She knew he was crying for mercy.”
Still carrying the .25 caliber handgun she had taken from her sons after their diagnosis for fear that they would kill themselves, Carol pulled the gun from her bag. At approximately 9:00pm, she shot Andy first, followed by Randy—each shot behind the ear. It’s said that Carol Carr then calmly walked out to the lobby and sat on the couch until the police arrived. She muttered quietly, “I believe ya’ll are looking for me,” as the officers arrived on the scene. Randy and Andy Scott were flown to Atlanta—one to Atlanta Medical Center and the other to Grady Memorial Hospital—in the hope of saving them. They died within an hour of each other. Randy was forty-two years old, while Andy was forty-one.
Carol was promptly arrested and held without bail at Spalding County Jail while remaining under suicide watch. On the day of her preliminary hearing on June 9th, it’s said she was nearly carried to the defense table, crying at the sight of the few family members that had come out to support her, whispering, “I’m sorry.” While she never claimed that she murdered her two sons, she eventually admitted to helping them end their lives in assisted suicide. Despite crowds of supporters outside the courthouse, carrying signs and begging officials to show mercy, Carol was officially charged with “malice murder” on June 10, 2002.
Although she was officially charged with murder, the judge granted her a temporary release from jail to allow the mother to attend the memorial service for her two sons. The funeral for Andy and Randy Scott took place in Jonesboro on Thursday, June 13, 2002. Accompanied by police officers, she attended the funeral and watched the burial at Riverdale Baptist Cemetery from the back of the sheriff’s car. It was reported that a house bordering the cemetery had a sign that read
Mrs. Carr, our prayers are with you. Officers allowed the immediate family to hug her and speak with her briefly before bringing Carol back to Spalding County Jail.
Just a few weeks later, in August, despite the fact that this was seen by detectives as a mercy killing, in the eyes of Georgia’s laws, there was no difference between premeditated murder and a mercy killing. A grand jury quickly indicted Carol Carr of two counts of felony murder and two counts of malice murder, and the debate surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide began.
Also known as a “mercy killing,” euthanasia (which translates to “good death”) is the painless killing of a terminally ill patient. While it is illegal in the United States, it is legalized in Belgium, Luxemburg, Canada, and Colombia and decriminalized in the Netherlands. Euthanasia was practiced in Ancient Greece and Rome and was supported by Socrates, Plato, and Seneca the Elder (though Hippocrates spoke out against it). While herbs such as hemlock were used to hasten death in the ancient world, by the 17th Century, people had new ways of providing a merciful death, such as removing pillows from beneath the dying (which would make breathing more difficult), smothering, bleeding out, or pulling the individual from the bed and placing them on the cold floor (leading to hypothermia). Arguments for and against euthanasia continued as the Age of Enlightenment dawned. With the emergence of drugs such as morphine and chloroform in the 19th Century, Victorians embraced the idea that pain was not a necessity at the end of one’s life (though some doctors still believed that suffering was necessary according to Christian teachings). The modern euthanasia movement began in the early 1900s and has continued to grow in recent years, with the vast majority of Americans believing that a person has the right to die with dignity and on their own terms.
But did Randy and Andy Scott die on their own terms and of their own volition? Detectives were unsure just how cognitive the brothers were at the time of their deaths. They could not move or speak for themselves, so there was no way to truly know their wishes. While Carol fully believed that she was doing exactly what her sons wanted, many advocates for disabled people argue that she chose when to end her sons’ lives rather than Randy and Andy making that choice for themselves. James Scott, Carol’s only surviving son who was also experiencing early symptoms of Huntington’s disease, insisted his mother acted out of love and not malice. The two had watched Randy and Andy deteriorate and suffer for twenty years, and James Scott claimed that Huntington’s killed his brothers, not his mother. And according to James, his mother had kept the promise she made to Randy and Andy in 1995.
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We all went to probate court in Clayton County back in 1995, and we all signed living wills saying if we got in my daddy’s shape, then we didn’t want to live anymore.”
While the lead investigators viewed this as a mercy killing and Carol continued to stand by her actions claiming it was her duty to save her boys, there was no question that she had broken the law, and two men were dead as a result.
On January 28, 2003, Carol Carr pleaded guilty to breaking Georgia’s assisted suicide law and, in the process, avoided murder charges. As part of the plea deal, she was sentenced to five years at the Metro State Prison in Atlanta with the understanding that she would likely be released within a year or two. In March 2004, Carol was released on parole. However, there were some stipulations she was expected to follow: she was required to seek mental health counseling, forbidden from living with her son, James, and if James was ever diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, she could not be his primary caretaker. James would officially be diagnosed with the disease in 2005 and died six years later.
The heated debate of assisted suicide, euthanasia, and an individual’s right to die will likely never be settled. While advocates fight for a humane way to end one’s life on their own terms, others view it as suicide… or, in the case of the Scott brothers: murder. We’ll never know if Randy and Andy Scott wished to die on June 8, 2002, as Huntington’s disease robbed them of the ability to communicate their final thoughts and wishes. However, we know that Huntington’s pushes families to the breaking point, and on that Saturday night at SunBridge Center, Carol snapped and pulled the trigger, believing she was doing precisely what her sons wanted.
