DID INTERNET "DR DEATH" DRIVE THEM TO SUICIDE?

DR DEATH

DRIVEN TO DEATH?

THE man dubbed "Dr Death" for scouring the Internet and encouraging suicidal people to kill themselves has denied that he had any impact on their deaths.
William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of aiding suicide in the deaths of an English man and a Canadian woman.
Prosecutors say the ex-nurse from Faribault, was obsessed with suicide and hanging and that he sought out potential victims on the Internet. 
Posing as a woman in chat room and e-mails he then played the role of a compassionate friend, offering step by step instructions on how they could kill themselves.  
He's charged in the 2005 hanging death of British man Mark Drybrough, 32, from Coventry, England, and the 2008 death of Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ontario, who jumped into a frozen river.
Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster said: "These individuals were fragile people. It was the defendant who was suggesting a long-term solution to a short-term problem."
Melchert-Dinkel agreed that he entered into fake suicide pacts with about 10 people, five of whom he believed killed themselves. 
But his attorney, Terry Watkins, said that while his client's online activities were "creepy" and "abhorrent," they don't constitute a crime and had no impact on the eventual suicides. 
He said: "That minimal communication did nothing, did nothing, to change the acts that had already been put in motion," Watkins said.
"It is not against the law to say, 'I understand, hun, I understand.'"
But The prosecutor said the evidence showed "beyond a reasonable doubt" that he intentionally encouraged both people to kill themselves and he aided in Drybrough's suicide.
Court documents show Drybrough posted a message in a chat room, asking if anyone had instructions on how to hang oneself without access to something high. 
He began receiving e-mails containing detailed instructions from Melchert-Dinkel, who was using the name "Li dao." 
In the Canada case, evidence shows Kajouji went online March 1, 2008, saying she wanted to commit suicide but was afraid of failing. 
Five days later, she participated in online chats with "Cami" -- who prosecutors say was actually Melchert-Dinkel. During the chats, Kajouji said she planned to jump into a river the following Sunday, and Cami said if that didn't work, they would hang themselves together that Monday. 
Kajouji disappeared March 9, 2008. Her body was found six weeks later.
The trial continues.