Former California Assemblyman Steve Clute has been charged with helping his wife, renowned UC Riverside math educator Pam Clute, commit suicide in 2016.

The felony charge is aiding or abetting suicide. An adult California resident can receive assistance in taking his own life, but only if certified as terminally ill and a physician prescribes lethal drugs after multiple requests from the patient.

Steve Clute is charged with giving a handgun to his wife that she used to kill herself, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

The criminal complaint against him was filed Nov. 30 without any announcement from the DA’s office. Clute is due in Superior Court in Indio on Wednesday, Dec. 6 for an arraignment.

Pam Clute, 66, was in “severe, severe” pain from a degenerative back condition, said Virginia Blumenthal, the noted Riverside defense attorney who is representing Steve Clute.

The charge, as well as Monday’s revelations from Hall and Blumenthal, come after more than a year of public speculation about Clute’s death at her Palm Desert home on Aug. 21, 2016, including whether her health was a factor, the cause of death, and at whose hand, if anyone’s, she died.

The original cause was listed on Clute’s death certificate as “pending,” and the Sheriff’s Department repeatedly declined to release that information until October 2017. The death certificate now says she died from a gunshot wound.

The Coroner’s Office has repeatedly rejected requests from this publication for the autopsy report. On Monday, sheriff’s Lt. April Smith, without proving an explanation, declined to make the report available, a coroner’s spokeswoman said.

Attempts to reach Steve Clute for comment Monday were not successful. A phone number listed for him was disconnected, and he did not respond to an email. Blumenthal said she had not yet reviewed the DA’s case file and was not ready to comment on the charge.

Shock and disbelief

Over a 40-year career, Clute became a revered figure at the UCR campus and in education circles for encouraging students, especially young women, to enter careers in math and science. In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded her the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Award of Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Her death and Monday’s news shocked people who thought they knew the couple well.

Riverside Unified school board member Tom Hunt, who knew the Clutes for almost 40 years, said Monday that he was saddened.

He said there had been rumors among friends that Pam Clute committed suicide but expressed disbelief that she would do that.

“I knew she had gone through a lot, but she was always very up,” he said.

“The talk was, ‘I just don’t understand,’ ” Hunt added. “Death, No. 1, and a gun. No one saw it coming.”

Pam Clute was known as an upbeat person, quick with a hug and a smile, while Hunt described Steve Clute as a nice, quiet guy. He saw them a week before Pam’s death.

“They were Pam and Steve,” Hunt said. “Pam was very vivacious and Steve was very reserved.”

Besides teaching exercise classes, Pam Clute was fastidious about her diet, often bringing her own food to luncheons, Cindy Roth, president and CEO of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce, said at a September 2016 memorial service for Clute at UCR.

Roth, who has known the Clutes for almost 30 years, said in an interview Monday that the Clutes were devoted to each other.

“Just knowing Pam and what she stood for, it must have been very tormenting to her,” she said.

Ron Loveridge, the former longtime Riverside mayor and director of the Center for Sustainable Suburban Development at UCR, called Clute’s death “a terrible loss to the community.”

He said he was “stunned” by the latest news.

“It’s a tragedy obviously for Pam Clute and also the community. She had so much to offer,” Loveridge said.

Elle Kurpiewski, who is active in local Democratic politics, said she got to know Steve Clute when she ran for Congress in 2002. Pam Clute was a guest on a radio program Kurpiewski used to host.

“I know that Steve and his wife were devoted to each other and loved each other deeply,” Kurpiewski said Monday.

Blumenthal put it simply: “He adored her.”

Blumenthal, when told that some people found it difficult to believe that Clute would take her own life, said, “Excessive pain that is long-term frequently causes people not to want to deal with it.”

Legacy of leadership

In 2012, Pam Clute was honored as a Leading Woman in STEM Education by the State of California. She also was named Riverside County First District Woman of the Year in 2011 and was an award-winning baker.

After leaving the classroom, she served as assistant vice chancellor of educational and community engagement at UCR. Upon her retirement from UCR in 2015, she was given the title of assistant vice chancellor emerita. She also became a member of the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees.

Steve Clute, a Democrat, served in the Assembly from 1982 to 1992. He represented Riverside, Moreno Valley, Banning, the Coachella Valley and Blythe during his time in Sacramento.

He ran unsuccessfully for Assembly in 2006 and finished third out of three candidates in the 2012 primary for the 31st state Senate District seat representing cities in western Riverside County.

After the primary, Steve Clute made waves when he endorsed Jeff Miller, a Republican who made it out of the primary with Democrat Richard Roth. Roth, who is married to Cindy Roth, eventually beat Miller in a seat that helped cement Democratic control of the state Senate.

Steve Clute also ran for Congress in 1994 and state Assembly in 1996.

Staff writers Jeff Horseman and Imran Ghori contributed to this story.