Minn. nurse charged with aiding suicides appears in court

Faribault, Minn. (AP)

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William Melchert-Dinkel
This Oct. 15, 2009 file photo, shows William Melchert-Dinkel in Faribault, Minn. Melchert-Dinkel, a former nurse who was stripped of his license last year, was charged Friday, April 23, 2010, with aiding the suicides of at least two people by encouraging them to kill themselves in Internet chats.
AP Photo/Robb Long, File

A lawyer for an ex-nurse charged with encouraging two people to kill themselves via online conversations is trying to get his confession thrown out on mental illness grounds.

Defense attorney Terry Watkins argued at a hearing Friday that William Melchert-Dinkel was so stressed by police that he was rendered insane, so his confession should not be admissible.

Melchert-Dinkel told the court he felt intimidated by the officers who came to his southern Minnesota home in January of 2009, particularly when one asked if he knew he'd broken the law. He said he didn't understand that encouraging suicide was unlawful.

Rice County District Judge Thomas Neuville says he'll rule on the confession and other pretrial motions sometime late this fall.

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Melchert-Dinkel is accused of encouraging the suicides of a man in England in 2005 and a woman in Canada in 2008.

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Information from: Faribault Daily News

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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