Former nurse convicted in US of assisting man’s suicide in Britain
Defendant provided victims he met online with instructions on how to end their lives
A former nurse who admitted going online and encouraging people to kill themselves has been convicted of assisting the suicide of a British man and attempting to assist in the suicide of a Canadian woman.
The conviction follows a legal battle that has spanned more than four years and led to the reversal of part of a law in the US state of Minnesota that outlaws the practice.
District Judge Thomas Neuville ruled the state had proved that William Melchert-Dinkel, 52, assisted in the suicide 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 of Nadia Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ontario, but found him guilty on a lesser charge of attempting to help her take her life.
Neuville scheduled a sentencing hearing for October 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 defendant did not physically assist either Drybrough or Kajouji in taking their own life," the judge wrote in his ruling.
"However, there is significant evidence that the defendant assisted Drybrough, and attempted to assist Kajouji, commit suicide by providing them with specific instructions and methodology for completing the suicide."