Update No. 4 (October 24, 2012): The last update, below, might turn out to be wrong? The Minnesota Supreme Court has granted Mr. William Francis Melchert-Dinkel’s petition for review last week.
Update No. 3 (July 17, 2012): In Minnesota, there is no constitutional right to murder someone (which is effectively what one is doing when one persuades another to commit suicide, isn’t it?).
Update No. 2 (May 4, 2011): One year in jail, 15 years of probation.
Update (December 18, 2010): As reported this week in the New York Times and elsewhere, Rice County District Court Judge Thomas Neuville won’t dismiss the case. It is scheduled for trial in April.
Original Post (May 14, 2010): It isn’t just Michigan’s famed Dr. Jack Kevorkian, “Dr. Death,” who made a name for himself by helping others commit suicide. Minnesota has its own Charon wannabe.
That would be Faribault, Minnesota’s William Melchert-Dinkel, 47 years old, licensed practical nurse (at one time, now license revoked), a husband and a father of two, and alleged facilitator of suicides world-wide. The link to Minnesota civil litigation, the focus of Minnesota Litigator, of this grotesque news story is admittedly tenuous. But Minnesota does provide a civil cause of action for aiding suicide (which may or may not survive a first amendment constitutional challenge, as the excellent NY Times article pointed out, linking here, to Prof. Jonathan Turley).