US former nurse who encouraged Briton to commit suicide sentenced

William Melchert-Dinkel, who admitted going online and encouraging an English man and a Canadian woman to kill themselves, is handed 178-day sentence

William Melchert-Dinkel with his wife Joyce after he was sentenced to 360 days in jail for his conviction of encouraging two suicides in 2011 Photo: AP

A former nurse in Minnesota who admitted going online and encouraging an English man and Canadian Nadia Kajouji to kill themselves is headed to jail.

William Melchert-Dinkel was ordered Wednesday to serve 178 days in jail.

He was sentenced to three years in prison, but he won't have to serve that prison term if he complies with conditions of probation, that include the jail time. He must report to jail Oct. 24.

Melchert-Dinkel, who told the judge he was sorry for his actions, was convicted in September of one count of assisting suicide and one count of attempting to assist a suicide.

The 52-year-old was convicted after the Supreme Court changed the state's assisted suicide law and reversed his prior convictions in the deaths of:

Nadia Kajouji, 18, a Brampton, Ont., woman who was attending university in Ottawa and who jumped into a frozen river in 2008.
Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, England, who hanged himself in 2005.
Melchert-Dinkel's lawyer plans to appeal the latest convictions.
During the original trial, the court heard that Melchert-Dinkel was obsessed with suicide and sought out depressed people online, posing as a suicidal female nurse, feigning compassion and offering detailed instructions on how they could kill themselves. Police said he told them he did it for "the thrill of the chase."
​Among other things, Terry Watkins said he would have used a different defence if the case was originally filed under the law as it now stands.
Under current law, it is illegal to assist a suicide, but not illegal to encourage suicide.