Supreme Court Asked to Clarify When Suicide Can Be Murder Before Kenneth Law Trial

Ontario prosecutors are asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an urgent appeal that could impact “one of the largest murder cases ever prosecuted in the province.”

Lawyers for the provincial attorney general’s office filed a request for an appeal to the country’s highest court earlier this month, suggesting that the first-degree murder charges against Kenneth Law are likely to be thrown out.

They are asking the Supreme Court to review a ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal in a separate case involving “the interplay between assisted suicide and homicide.”

In the other case – involving a nurse, the use of insulin and allegations of attempted murder – the provincial appeals court drew a clearer distinction between the two crimes.

The court ruled that the defendant “violated the victim’s free will by choosing suicide” to potentially consider the case as murder or attempted murder. Otherwise, the appeals court ruled that the offense strictly amounts to complicity in suicide.

Here’s why it matters in the Law case: The alleged poison salesman is charged in connection with 14 self-inflicted deaths in the county. In each case, he faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of counseling or assisting in suicide.

Prosecutors say Law, 59, ran an online business that sold toxic salt and suicide paraphernalia “with the knowledge that his products would be used by individuals to commit suicide.”

At least four of Law’s alleged victims were teenagers, including Jeshennia Bedoya Lopez and Ashtyn Prosser.

Law was living in Mississauga, Ontario, when he was arrested in May 2023.

The Crown notes in its application for leave to appeal that the case will come before the court in September 2025. Given that fact, the Ontario ministry is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the appeal soon.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that their case for murder is necessarily destroyed if leave is not granted … but it may no longer be tenable,” said Ingrid Grant, a Toronto criminal lawyer who independently reviewed the application for leave to appeal.

She said the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling left open the possibility that someone could be found guilty of murder and complicity in suicide, but that “the circumstances under which that could happen were quite narrowly defined.”

Grant pointed out that the prosecution has not yet fully presented its case against Law.

Police previously declined to say whether there was evidence that Law had direct contact with his alleged victims.

Law’s lawyer, Matthew Gourlay, wrote in an email Tuesday that “Canadian law distinguishes between manslaughter and assisted suicide.”

He said the recent Court of Appeal decision “confirms that prosecuting Mr Law for murder is not legally viable because it does not respect this distinction.”

WATCH | Kenneth Law Named in Civil Lawsuit:

Suspected poison seller Kenneth Law sued by parents of Ontario teen

Kenneth Law, the alleged poison salesman responsible for 131 deaths worldwide, is being sued by the parents of an Ontario teenager who died in 2022. In a $2 million civil lawsuit, the parents of Jeshennia Bedoya Lopez allege that Law sold her a “suicide kit” online that she later used during a mental health crisis.

Official statements, public documents and interviews with families suggest that Law’s products may be linked to at least 131 deaths worldwide, including in the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and New Zealand.

Keesha Seaton, spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, said last week that it would not be appropriate to comment as the matter is before the courts.