Judge refuses to dismiss case against Melchert-Dinkel

An Associated Press article written by Amy Forliti, is reporting that Judge Thomas Neuville has refused to dismiss the case against William Melchert-Dinkel, the Minnesota nurse who admitted to encouraging Carlton University student, Nadia Kajouji (18) and Mark Drybrough (32) of Coventry England, to commit suicide. He is also allegedly involved with encouraging and or counseling at least three other people to suicide.

Melchert-Dinkel's lawyer has claimed that freedom of speech protects the acts of encouraging or counseling suicide via the internet. It appears that sanity is prevailing.

The article from the Associated Press:
Minn. judge refuses to dismiss aided suicide case

A Minnesota judge ruled Tuesday that the case against a former nurse who allegedly sought out depressed people in Internet chat rooms and encouraged them to kill themselves won't be dismissed on free speech grounds.

William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, of Faribault, is charged with two counts of aiding suicide in the deaths of an English man and a Canadian woman.

His attorney had asked that the case be dismissed, saying Melchert-Dinkel's conversations involved protected speech. Rice County District Judge Thomas Neuville disagreed in a 21-page ruling, saying speech that aids the suicide of another is not protected by the First Amendment.

The judge also said Minnesota law makes it a crime to participate in speech that intentionally advises, encourages, or aids another in taking his or her own life. And, the judge wrote, the courts have ruled that speech that constitutes aiding and abetting criminal conduct is not protected.

"Thus, speech that directly encourages and imminently incites the act of suicide ... falls outside the protection of the First Amendment," Neuville wrote.

Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster argued Melchert-Dinkel was obsessed with suicide and hanging and cruised the Internet for potential victims. When he found them, he posed as a female nurse, feigned compassion and offered step-by-step instructions on how they could kill themselves. Melchert-Dinkel also entered phony suicide pacts, Beaumaster said.

Melchert-Dinkel was charged in April with two counts of aiding suicide in the 2005 hanging death of Mark Drybrough, 32, of Conventry, England, and the 2008 drowning of Nadia Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ontario.

Beaumaster said in earlier court documents that Melchert-Dinkel admitted participating in online chats with at least 15 to 20 people about suicide and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10 people, five of whom Melchert-Dinkel believed killed themselves.

The prosecutor said Tuesday that he is pleased with the judge's ruling and is preparing for trial. The next court hearing is set for Nov. 19. A plea is expected to be formally entered then.

Melchert-Dinkel's attorney, Terry Watkins, said he hadn't read the judge's ruling and had no immediate comment. He said nothing has changed, and he is anticipating his client will plead not guilty.

Watkins also had asked that the case be dismissed because of a lack of probable cause and because the state's aiding suicide law is too vague. Neuville denied those requests as well.