Career-criminal Kenneth Minor, 38, has been found guilty of murdering motivational speaker Jeffrey Locker, 52, though his defense team had argued that their client had only assisted Locker in a suicide, as reported by the New York Times and other media outlets.
A Manhattan jury found Minor guilty on March 3.
Locker, a Long Island resident, leaves behind three children.
Minor had claimed in court that Locker had hired him to “do a Kevorkian” the night of his death. All he did, he contended, was hold a knife to a steering wheel while Locker allegedly pressed himself into the knife’s blade.
In court evidence was shown to prove that Locker wanted to end his life. A few months before his death, Locker had purchased life insurance policies for almost $18 million.
He had also told witnesses that he wished to die and had researched funeral homes via the Internet.
But prosecutors argued that Minor was both an active and intentional participant in Locker’s death. Minor had also been compensated for it.
The jury deliberated for four hours before coming to their unanimous decision: Minor was found guilty of murder in the second degree and will face 25 years to life in a prison sentence.
Minor’s previous criminal record included drug and robbery arrests.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said in a statement, “This was murder for money, not a mercy killing, which is why we prosecuted the case as an intentional murder.”
Daniel Gotlin, Minor’s defense attorney commented, “He’s very upset. Mr. Minor, from Day 1, knew that he had done something he shouldn’t have.”
Gotlin claimed that his client had sought to make a deal on a lesser charge but that the government wanted to make his case “an example.”
Gotlin then criticized Justice Carol Berkman for how she explained what an assisted suicide is to the jury. Berkman had stated that if Minor had, “actively caused Jeffrey Locker’s death, even with Locker’s consent, then that is not assisted suicide.
The consent of the victim is not a defense to murder.”
Gotlin argued that the verdict “was clearly based on her charge to the jury.”
Jurors refused to discuss the case with media as they exited the courtroom. Mrs. Minor, Kenneth Minor’s wife, appeared distraught after the verdict was read and her husband was led off in handcuffs.
Two alternate jurors, Aneicia Smikle and Will Schoenmaker, did speak to reporters.
Smikle said, “These two men are victims of the system and their own greed and choices.”
While Schoenmaker offered, “I can’t feel bad for anybody in this case.”
Because of the evidence pointing to Locker’s wish to end his life, prosecutors had dropped their earlier charge of first-degree murder. There was also another man, Melvin Fleming, that had testified that he, too, had been approached – and also offered money –to assist Locker in his death.
During the course of the trial, a pathologist testified that the wound pattern found on Locker were not from self-infliction but, instead, of repeated stabbings.
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