Minn. court hits law against ‘advising’ suicide

Published 11:31 am Monday, September 30, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Court of Appeals says a state law against “advising” people on committing suicide is unconstitutional.

A three-judge appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the law is an overly broad restriction on free speech.

The ruling came in a case against members of the national right-to-die group Final Exit Network, who were charged in the 2007 suicide of an Apple Valley woman.

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Monday’s decision sends the case back to Dakota County District Court for further proceedings against the group and two members who are charged with assisting the woman’s suicide. The appeals court says the state’s ban on actively assisting suicide is OK.

A ruling is still pending from the Minnesota Supreme Court in a separate case of a Faribault man convicted of assisting two suicides.