Supreme Court asked to clarify when suicide can be murder before Kenneth Law trial

Prosecutors in Ontario are asking the Supreme Court of Canada to urgently hear an appeal that could have repercussions on "one of the largest murder cases ever charged in the province."

In an application for leave to appeal to the country's top court filed earlier this month, lawyers for the provincial Ministry of the Attorney General appear to suggest that first-degree murder charges laid against Kenneth Law risk collapsing.

They're requesting the Supreme Court review an Ontario Court of Appeal decision in a separate matter dealing with "the interplay between aiding suicide and murder."

In the other case — involving a nurse, the use of insulin and allegations of attempted murder — the provincial appeal court drew a clearer distinction between the two offences. 

The court ruled that the accused must be found to have "overbore the victim's freewill in choosing suicide" for the case to be potentially considered murder or attempted murder. Otherwise, the appeal court found the offence strictly amounts to abetting suicide.

Here's why it matters in the Law case: The alleged poison seller is charged in connection with 14 self-inflicted deaths across the province. For each individual case, he faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of counselling or aiding suicide.

Prosecutors allege Law, 59, ran an online business selling a toxic salt and suicide paraphernalia "with the knowledge that his products were being 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, Ont., when he was arrested in May 2023.

The Crown notes in its application for leave to appeal that the Law matter is set to go to trial in September 2025. Given that, the Ontario ministry is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its appeal soon.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say their case for murder necessarily falls apart if leave isn't granted … but it might no longer be viable," said Ingrid Grant, a Toronto-based criminal defence lawyer who independently reviewed the application for leave to appeal.

She said the Ontario appeal court decision left open the possibility that a person could be found guilty of both murder and abetting suicide, but "the circumstances where that could happen were defined pretty narrowly."

Grant pointed out, the Crown hasn't fully laid out its case against Law. 

Police previously declined to say whether they have evidence that Law was in direct contact with his alleged victims.