Re: Free Speech No Defense for Urging Suicide

Curiosity, does the fact that he sought out those people make any
difference?

 

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Mike Findlay
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 6:49 AM
To: DADL (off topic)
Subject: [DADL-OT] Free Speech No Defense for Urging Suicide

 

He should have gone with the jury trial.  Only a judge, with the usual Black
Robe Disease, would make such a ruling.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ENCOURAGING_SUICIDES?SITE=AP
<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ENCOURAGING_SUICIDES?SITE=AP&SECT
ION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-03-16-06-49-25>
&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-03-16-06-49-25

 

Judge: Free speech no defense for urging suicide 




AP Photo/Robb Long

 


	

 


	

 



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Description: Image removed by sender.

FARIBAULT, Minn. (AP) -- Freedom of speech is no defense for a former nurse
who engaged in "lethal advocacy" when he encouraged an English man and
Canadian woman to kill themselves after searching for depressed people over
the Internet, a Minnesota judge said in delivering a guilty verdict against
the man.

The judge found William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, guilty Tuesday of two counts of
aiding the suicides of Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, England, who hanged
himself in 2005, and Nadia Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ontario, who jumped
into a frozen river in 2008. Melchert-Dinkel declined a jury trial and left
his fate to Rice County District Judge Thomas Neuville.

Melchert-Dinkel's attorney, Terry Watkins, said the defense was disappointed
with the verdict and planned to appeal. Watkins said appellate courts will
have to answer whether Melchert-Dinkel's actions rose to the level of a
crime or were protected speech in the context in which they occurred, given
the defense view that the victims were already predisposed to suicide and
his online statements didn't sway them.

In his ruling, Neuville stuck mostly to a dispassionate recitation of the
facts in the case. The judge again rejected the defendant's argument that
his actions amounted to free speech, affirming a pretrial ruling he issued
in November. He also reaffirmed his rejection of the defense claim that
Melchert-Dinkel's online statements didn't sway the victims.

"Melchert-Dinkel was not merely expressing ideas about suicide The court
finds that defendant's speech imminently incited the victims to commit
suicide, and can be described as 'lethal advocacy,' which is analogous to
the category of unprotected speech known as 'fighting words' and 'imminent
incitement of lawlessness,'" Neuville wrote.

After sentencing, which is scheduled for May 4, Watkins said, his next stop
will be the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and the defense is prepared to
appeal to higher courts if necessary. He said the defense didn't dispute the
facts as the judge laid them out in his 42-page ruling, but disagreed on
whether they added up to proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

"We will carry this as far as judicially allowed," Watkins said.

Minnesota's rarely used aiding suicide law carries a maximum penalty of 15
years in prison and a $30,000 fine. Data from the Minnesota Sentencing
Guidelines Commission show that since 1994, only six people have been
sentenced on the charge. One was sent to prison for four years; the rest
received local jail time, probation or both.

Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster said he would seek a sentence
consistent with the earlier cases.

"I think justice was served," Beaumaster said. "I think it was a just
verdict based on the facts of the case, and convictions were earned on both
counts."

Prosecutors said Melchert-Dinkel, who lives in the southern Minnesota city
of Faribault, was obsessed with suicide and hanging and sought out potential
victims online. When he found them, prosecutors said, he posed as a female
nurse, feigned compassion and offered step-by-step instructions on how they
could kill themselves. Melchert-Dinkel told police he did it for the "thrill
of the chase." He acknowledged participating in online chats about suicide
with up to 20 people and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10
people, five of whom he believed killed themselves.

Drybrough's mother, Elaine Drybrough, said she was glad the judge agreed
Melchert-Dinkel was guilty. If he had been cleared, she said, it would have
sent a signal to other people contemplating similar actions that encouraging
suicides is permissible.

"He's been told it's not all right," she said.

Kajouji's mother, Deborah Chevalier, said she's concerned the penalty won't
be in line with the crime and that Melchert-Dinkel's appeal will delay a
final resolution.

"I've said all along that a crime is just as vile and offensive whether it
be committed in our own homes or over the Internet," she said in an e-mail.

During oral arguments in February, Watkins called his client's behavior
"sick" and "abhorrent" but said it wasn't a crime. He said Drybrough had
been ill for years and went online seeking drugs to overdose, while Kajouji
was going through a rough time in her life, had a miscarriage after drinking
heavily and was depressed. Watkins said they were both intelligent people
who wouldn't be swayed by his client's online "babbling."

Beaumaster said Melchert-Dinkel's intent was to see them die, and the law is
designed to protect vulnerable people.

"That's the point. That's who he looked for," he said. "He targeted
individuals he knew he could have an influence on. Were they predisposed?
Absolutely!"

Minnesota authorities began investigating in March 2008 when an anti-suicide
activist in Britain claimed someone in the state was using the Internet to
manipulate people into killing themselves.

The Minnesota Board of Nursing revoked Melchert-Dinkel's license in 2009.

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