Moms Hail Guilty Verdicts Against Minn. Ex-Nurse
FARIBAULT, Minn. (AP) -- Two mothers are welcoming the guilty verdicts against a Minnesota ex-nurse accused of seeking depressed people online and encouraging two people to kill themselves.
Forty-eight-year-old William Melchert-Dinkel of Faribault was convicted Tuesday of aiding the suicides of Mark Drybrough of England and Nadia Kajouji of Canada.
Drybrough's mother, Elaine Drybrough, says that if he had been cleared, it would have sent a signal that encouraging suicides is permissible.
Kajouji's mother, Deborah Chevalier, says the Internet cannot be allowed to become a safe haven for criminals. She says a crime is just as vile and offensive whether it's committed in a home or over the Internet.
The prosecutor, Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster, says justice was served.
Defense attorney Terry Watkins did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
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