Man Convicted of Murder for Assisted Suicide

Self-help author and business coach Jeffrey Locker invested in a Ponzi scheme and was facing federal bankruptcy at the time he was found stabbed to death in his car. Keith Minor was convicted of murder in March, but he argues that it was an assisted suicide.

According to Minor, Locker offered to pay strangers to kill him and make it look like a robbery so that his family could collect $18 million in life insurance. The first person agreed but then disappeared with the $4,000. Minor felt sorry for Locker and agreed to help him. He held the knife against the steering wheel while Locker lunged into it seven times.

Minor’s lawyer argues that Minor should be acquitted under a provision that allows “causing or aiding” a suicide as a defense to murder charges. Justice Carol Berkman told the jurors that the assisted suicide statute could not apply if Minor “actively” caused Locker’s death, and the jury found that he did.

See Camille Mann, Jeffrey Locker’s Death Ruled Murder, Not Assisted Suicide; NYC Man Keith Minor Convicted, CBS News, Mar. 4, 2011.