Robert “Budd” Dwyer was a US politician who was accused of accepting a kickback of $300,000. Dwyer professed his innocence.

Dwyer professed his innocence until his death. Dwyer was in the midst of a press conference that had TV cameras when he pulled out a gun from an envelope and shot himself in his mouth.

Dwyer died in office before being removed. Dwyer received a guilty conviction and was waiting sentencing. If that happened, Dwyer would not get a pension. By killing himself while still on the job, Dwyer’s widow, Joanne, was able to collect full survivor benefits which amounted to $1.28 million.

The background story and photo on Robert Dwyer is here.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 3:21 am and is filed under Gossip.