DA: Don’t toss murder charge in motivational speaker’s NY death; suicide evidence inconclusive

DA: Don’t toss murder charge in speaker’s NY death

NEW YORK — Prosecutors say they won’t give up on a murder case against a man accused of stabbing a motivational speaker to death in Manhattan, though they acknowledge it may have been an assisted suicide.

Manhattan prosecutors said in court papers filed Wednesday that there’s evidence Jeffrey Locker sought help killing himself, but the evidence isn’t conclusive. They say a jury should decide.

Defendant Kenneth Minor says Locker offered him $1,000 for help in stabbing himself to death so his family could collect insurance money.

Prosecutors say they’ve found Locker was researching funerals and vastly increased his insurance in the year before his July death.

Minor’s lawyer wants the charges lowered to manslaughter or promoting a suicide.