Wall Street Journal – by Joe Palazzolo
Encouraging someone to commit suicide is not a crime, Minnesota’s high court ruled Wednesday, reversing the conviction of a nurse who urged people to hang themselves and let him watch via webcam.
William Francis Melchert-Dinkel had been found guilty under a law that made it illegal to “advise, encourage, or assist” in a suicide.
The Minnesota Supreme Court concluded that advising or encouraging suicide was speech protected by the First Amendment and removed the words from the statute.
“We conclude that the State may prosecute Melchert-Dinkel for assisting another in committing suicide, but not for encouraging or advising another to commit suicide,” wrote Justice G. Barry Anderson for the majority.
The Rice County Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, and a lawyer for Mr. Melchert-Dinkel didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Melchert-Dinkel posed online as a suicidal female nurse, building bonds with others who were contemplating death. He pressed Mark Drybrough in England and Ottawa native Nadia Kajouji to hang themselves and to allow him to watch on a webcam. Mr. Melchert-Dinkel made suicide pacts with both, according to court documents.
Mr. Drybrough, 32 years old, hanged himself in his bedroom in 2005. Ms. Kajouji, 19, jumped off a bridge to her death in 2008.
Mr. Melchert-Dinkel, 51 years old, was sentenced to a year in prison in 2011 and remained free pending his appeal.
The justices sent the case to back to a trial court to determine whether any of his actions amounted to assisting a suicide.
Certain speech is beyond First Amendment protection, such as fraud, incitement of a violation of the law, and speech that plays a key part in a crime. The court rejected the state’s contention that Mr. Melchert-Dinkel’s words fit those exceptions. Suicide isn’t illegal in Minnesota, so his speech couldn’t have incited a crime or been integral to criminal conduct, Justice Anderson wrote.
The justices acknowledged the enormity of Mr. Melchert-Dinkel’s lies but said they fell short of fraud, which courts have defined as false claims that are made to gain material advantage.
Write to Joe Palazzolo at joe.palazzolo@wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304026304579449840788065518
Sick!
Yes it is Angel.
And to think that I live in Wi. next door to Minn. WOW no wonder we in Wi. are screwed up LOL 🙄
There is nolonger any connection between morality and law.