Kevin Conners appears in a Connecticut superior court on Friday, June 21, 2019, after allegedly helping his wife take her own life with a firearm.
CNN  — 

A Connecticut man who police say confessed to holding a gun while his terminally-ill wife pulled the trigger to end her life appeared in court Friday on a charge of second degree manslaughter.

Kevin Conners, 65, appeared before a state Superior Court judge in Middletown, a day after he surrendered to police and posted a $50,000 bond, according to CNN affiliate WTIC.

Conners called 911 in the early morning hours of September 6, 2018, and told the dispatcher his wife had committed suicide, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by the Connecticut State Police. He told police the sound of the gunshot woke him.

He later admitted, according to the application, that he helped his wife end her life.

“Mr. Conners did what any loving husband would do,” Conners attorney, Raymond Rigat, told WTIC.

‘Death with Dignity’ legislation

Assisted suicide is illegal in Connecticut. Efforts to pass so-called “Death with Dignity” legislation have repeatedly failed, and Connecticut has prosecuted a number of assisted suicide cases.

Lori Conners, 64, suffered from ovarian cancer that had metastasized, the affidavit said. Her battle with Lyme disease worsened the side effects of the chemotherapy she’d been receiving, it said.

Conners, 65, told authorities that his wife was afraid she would “flinch,” if she attempted to shoot herself on her own and so they planned that he would help her, the affidavit said.

Wife left notes

She left notes to her family, apologizing for not being able to withstand her illness and told them “how important it was for her family to love Jesus,” according to the warrant application.

Both devout “born-again Christians,” Conners said his wife said “she wanted to be with God” the application said.

She attempted to take her life about a month earlier, but survived the drug overdose, it said.

Conners is due to appear in court again on July 2.

CNN’s Steve Almasy contributed to this report.