Based on coverage from AOL, Daily Mail, CBS News, CBC, and Reuters.
Kenneth Law, the Ontario man accused of selling a potentially lethal substance online to people at risk of self-harm, is set to avoid a murder trial after agreeing to plead guilty to counselling or aiding suicide, according to his lawyer.
As part of the deal, Crown prosecutors will withdraw all 14 first-degree murder charges against Law, his lawyer Matthew Gourlay confirmed to both CBC News and The Associated Press. The case is due back in a Newmarket, Ont., courtroom Monday afternoon, though Gourlay told Reuters the formal guilty plea will be entered at a later date.
Newmarket, Ontario court case update
Law, 60, has been in custody since his arrest at his Mississauga, Ont., home in May 2023. CBC reports the plea agreement means the criminal trial, which had been delayed and was slated to begin earlier this month, will no longer go ahead.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to both CBC and wire reports.
Kenneth Law plea deal drops 14 murder charges
Law had been facing 14 counts of first-degree murder and 14 counts of counselling or aiding suicide connected to 14 deaths in Ontario. Under the agreement described by Gourlay, the murder counts will be withdrawn, and Law will plead guilty to the counselling or aiding suicide charges.
That matters because the sentencing range is dramatically different. Under Canada’s Criminal Code, abetting (or counselling/aiding) suicide carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence, with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.
Sodium nitrite online sales and police allegations
Police allege Law ran a network of websites used to market and sell sodium nitrite, a chemical commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested. Reuters adds that investigators also allege the websites sold other items that could be used for self-harm, including masks and hoods.
Authorities have described the chemical as legal to sell, but dangerous in the wrong context. Police have said the Canadian victims were male and female, ranging in age from 16 to 36.
Ontario victims and cities named in court records
CBC cites an indictment filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice linking Law to 14 deaths in multiple Ontario communities, including Toronto, Thunder Bay and London.
Some families have publicly identified their relatives as alleged victims, including the families of Jeshennia Bedoya Lopez (18), Ashtyn Prosser (19), and Stephen Mitchell Jr. (21), according to CBC. Police have said the remaining deceased were also between 16 and 36.
International investigations in UK, US, Australia
Canadian police have said Law is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries. Reuters reports investigators allege roughly 160 shipments went to addresses in Canada.
Overseas, Britain’s National Crime Agency has publicly tied purchases from the websites to a large number of deaths, though the figures vary across reports. The Associated Press cites the NCA as identifying 232 purchasers in the U.K. over a two-year period up to April 2023, with 88 of those people having died. Reuters, citing an NCA spokesperson, says the agency is investigating potential crimes linked to the deaths of 112 people who purchased items from Canada-based websites. Authorities in the United States, Britain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand have also launched investigations, according to AP.
The Newmarket court appearance Monday is the next stop in the case, with Law expected to enter his guilty plea at a later date under the arrangement described by his lawyer.
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