Close X
Saturday, September 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

US judge convicts ex-nurse of attempting to assist Canadian's suicide

Darpan News Desk Canadian Press, 09 Sep, 2014 11:31 AM
  • US judge convicts ex-nurse of attempting to assist Canadian's suicide

An ex-nurse who admitted going online and encouraging people to kill themselves was convicted Tuesday assisting the suicide of an English man and attempting to assist in the suicide of a Canadian woman.

The conviction followed a legal battle that has spanned more than four years and led to the reversal of part of a Minnesota state law that outlaws the practice.

Rice County District Judge Thomas Neuville ruled that the state proved that William Melchert-Dinkel, 52, of Faribault, assisted in the suicide in 2005 of Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, England.

He said the state failed to prove Melchert-Dinkel 's assistance was a direct cause of the suicide in 2008 of Nadia Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ont., but found him guilty on a lesser charge of attempting to help her take her life. Kajouji was a student at Carleton University in Ottawa at the time.

Neuville scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 15. The same judge had also convicted Melchert-Dinkel in 2011 of encouraging the two suicides but put his 360-day jail sentence on hold pending appeals.

The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed Melchert-Dinkel 's conviction in March, saying part of a state law that made it illegal to "advise" or "encourage" suicides was an unconstitutionally broad restriction on free speech.

However, the justices upheld a part of the law that makes it a crime to "assist" in someone's suicide. The ruling said speech alone can be used to assist or enable a suicide if it is narrowly targeted to one person and provides that person with what is needed to carry out the act.

The state Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings because the judge did not rule at the time on whether Melchert-Dinkel actually assisted in the two suicides.

Evidence in the case showed Melchert-Dinkel was obsessed with suicide and sought out depressed people online. He posed as a suicidal female nurse, feigning compassion and offering step-by-step instructions on how they could kill themselves. He acknowledged participating in online chats about suicide with up to 20 people and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10, five of whom he believed killed themselves.

At a hearing last month, Assistant Rice County Attorney Terence Swihart said Melchert-Dinkel provided Kajouji and Drybrough with specific information on methods for killing themselves, going beyond merely expressing opinions.

But defence attorney Terry Watkins said there was no evidence to prove that Melchert-Dinkel's advice led directly to their deaths.

MORE National ARTICLES

Mediator Vince Ready Agrees To Try And Help End B.C. Teachers' Dispute

Mediator Vince Ready Agrees To Try And Help End B.C. Teachers' Dispute
VANCOUVER - Veteran mediator Vince Ready is making himself available in an attempt to end the acrimonious dispute involving British Columbia's public school teachers.

Mediator Vince Ready Agrees To Try And Help End B.C. Teachers' Dispute

Canadian Pacific Rail Begins Bulldozing Gardens In Dispute With Vancouver Over Land Purchase

Canadian Pacific Rail Begins Bulldozing Gardens In Dispute With Vancouver Over Land Purchase
VANCOUVER - A bulldozer is mowing down mature trees and tearing up gardens along a stretch of abandoned Canadian Pacific Rail (TSX:CP) line that runs through the middle of Vancouver.

Canadian Pacific Rail Begins Bulldozing Gardens In Dispute With Vancouver Over Land Purchase

Quebec Soldier Says He Never Sexually Assaulted Female Soldier After Party

Quebec Soldier Says He Never Sexually Assaulted Female Soldier After Party
QUEBEC - A Canadian soldier accused of sexually assaulting one of his subordinates says he did not attack her and that she's the one who took the initiative.

Quebec Soldier Says He Never Sexually Assaulted Female Soldier After Party

Princeton Professor Manjul Bhargava is First Canadian to Win Nobel Prize in Math

Princeton Professor Manjul Bhargava is First Canadian to Win Nobel Prize in Math
A 39-year-old Canadian-born mathematician has won a prestigious award often described as the Nobel Prize in math.

Princeton Professor Manjul Bhargava is First Canadian to Win Nobel Prize in Math

B.C. Privacy Watchdog Probes If Government Had Duty To Warn Over Tailings Breach

B.C. Privacy Watchdog Probes If Government Had Duty To Warn Over Tailings Breach
VICTORIA - B.C.'s information and privacy commissioner plans to investigate whether the provincial government should have notified the public about potential risk connected to the Mount Polley tailings pond.

B.C. Privacy Watchdog Probes If Government Had Duty To Warn Over Tailings Breach

Bountiful: Wife Of B.C. Polygamous Leader Says Charges Violate Her Religious Freedom

Bountiful: Wife Of B.C. Polygamous Leader Says Charges Violate Her Religious Freedom
LISTER, B.C. - A wife of a polygamous leader of a small religious commune in B.C. says polygamy charges laid this week against the leaders of Bountiful violate her religious freedom.

Bountiful: Wife Of B.C. Polygamous Leader Says Charges Violate Her Religious Freedom