Kenneth Law to plead guilty to assisted suicide charges as murder counts dropped in Canadian court
Demand soared for mental health care after suicide hotline launch 02:53
A Canadian man accused of shipping poison to people contemplating suicide around the globe is expected to plead guilty to several counts on Friday, ending a case that has shocked the public.
Kenneth Law, 60, is set to admit to 14 charges of aiding or counseling suicide, multiple sources confirmed, as Canadian prosecutors drop second-degree murder charges—a move that has left devastated families furious. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported the plea arrangement.
Law, a former chef, allegedly operated a series of online forums where he provided detailed advice to predominantly young, vulnerable individuals on how to end their lives. He is accused of shipping parcels containing sodium nitrite—a legally available preservative that can be lethal in high concentrations—to hundreds of people in dozens of countries.
In 2023, Canadian police released photos of the substance and noted that a joint operation involving 11 police agencies from across Ontario was investigating the case. “Investigators are asking members of the community to be alert of any packaging or label identifying sodium nitrite,” Constable Sarah Patten said at the time.
Britain’s National Crime Agency identified 232 people in the U.K. who bought products from Law’s websites in the two years leading up to April 2023. Of those purchasers, 88 had died.
Kim Prosser’s son Ashtyn took his own life in March 2023, weeks before Law’s arrest. His death is one of the 14 Canadian cases central to the proceedings in Newmarket, north of Toronto. Prosser told AFP that prosecutors informed her Law would plead guilty to counseling suicide, with murder charges dropped—information also shared with Canadian media by Law’s defense lawyer Matthew Gourlay.
The office of Ontario’s attorney general told AFP that Law will appear in person on Friday “to take a plea.” Prosser, who plans to attend the hearing, described the excruciating pain since her son’s death on March 30, 2023. She received his ashes on April 13—her birthday—just two weeks before what would have been Ashtyn’s 20th birthday. “To be at the courthouse on Friday and to sit there… it’s a beginning to another chapter of this process of healing,” she said. Prosser, now working in holistic coaching and wellness, said she understands other families are furious that Law won’t face murder charges, but she does not share that emotion.
Yet for David Parfett, whose son Thomas ended his life in 2021 with materials allegedly supplied by Law, the plea deal feels like a miscarriage of justice. Thomas’s death is not part of the Canadian case but is among nearly 100 British suicides reportedly linked to Law’s forums. Parfett has become an advocate for stronger legislation targeting online spaces that guide people toward harm. “This was a man who was more than urging and assisting suicide,” Parfett told AFP. “If (Law) hadn’t been offering detailed instructions about how to take your own life, then the chances are my son would still be here. So again, for me, it’s murder.”
Leonardo Bedoya—whose 18-year-old daughter Jeshennia Bedoya Lopez died in 2022, allegedly with Law’s help—told Canada’s CTV he was furious with the plea deal. “He’s an assassin. A serial killer. They should treat him like a murderer,” Bedoya said.
Dalhousie University law professor Robert Currie told AFP that prosecutors seeking to try Law for murder were handcuffed by a legal “gap.” Under Canadian law, it is unclear whether “murder is a separate crime from counseling suicide, or whether the same conduct can make up both of those crimes,” he said. Prosecutors had hoped a Supreme Court ruling in a separate case would clarify the issue, but Canada’s top judges “declined to clarify,” Currie added. Because they doubted they could secure murder convictions, they are “going with the bird in hand,” Currie said, stressing that counseling suicide is a serious offense.
Experts estimate Law could face 10 to 20 years in prison, depending on whether sentences are concurrent or consecutive, at a future hearing. “Given the heinous nature of this crime, I would be surprised if he didn’t get something fairly stiff,” Currie said. He noted that Law could face further justice elsewhere, with extradition to the UK a plausible next step.
Every year, about 4,500 people in Canada die by suicide, and more than 200 people in Canada attempt suicide daily, according to government statistics.
For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email [email protected].