Prosecutors appeal assisted suicide ruling

Prosecutors in Dakota County are appealing a recent district court decision that found Minnesota's law against advising suicide to be unconstitutionally overbroad.

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

Dakota County Judge Karen Asphaug found Minnesota's law as it pertains to "advising'' suicide was unconstitutional and she dismissed charges against the group's former president.

Prosecutors have argued the statute is narrowly worded so advocates of suicide may freely speak their minds but that those who "intentionally'' assist, encourage or advise suicide are breaking the law. Defendants had claimed the law is unconstitutional because it violates a person's right to freedom of speech.