Ontario man accused of selling toxic substances so people could die by suicide expected to plead guilty in May

A photo of Kenneth Law is shown at a police news conference regarding his case, Aug. 29, 2023. Photo by Jack Boland/Postmedia/File

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An Ontario man accused of aiding multiple suicides by selling lethal substances online will appear in court on May 29, where he is expected to plead guilty to charges of siding suicide if Crown prosecutors withdraw additional charges of first-degree murder.

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Kenneth Law was arrested in May 2023, and charged in December of that year on 14 counts of first-degree murder. Peel Police also charged law with 14 counts of counselling or aiding suicide.

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Law’s lawyer, Matthew Gourlay of Benein Hutchison Robitaille LLP, had earlier said that the Crown was preparing to drop the murder charges, saying Law would instead plead guilty to the lesser charges of counselling or aiding suicide.

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Law will appear in person for resolution proceedings at the Newmarket court on May 29, an Ontario Superior Court of Justice judge decided on Monday. He is expected to plead guilty at that time.

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Police have alleged that Law operated several websites through which he sold substances including sodium nitrite, a legal fertilizer and food preservative that can be lethal if consumed in high concentrations.

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The charges followed a Times of London investigation into Law’s alleged crimes. Police allege that Law sold more than 1,200 packages globally, including to 160 people in Canada.

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Charges against Law have become international in their scope, with investigators believing that Law shipped substances to people in more than 40 countries. Authorities in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Italy have said they are investigating their own allegations. The British National Crime Agency believes that up to 112 people in the U.K. died from consuming toxic substances that Law sold, up from an earlier estimate of 88.

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The Canadian charges relate to 14 people between the ages of 16 and 36, and who died in various Ontario communities.

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Law was previously set to stand trial in January 2026, but it was delayed as the Crown awaited a separate Supreme Court decision on the distinction between murder and assisting suicide. That decision, which stemmed from an earlier Ontario Court of Appeal case, created a legal impediment to the Crown’s efforts to level murder charges against Law.

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The Crown was appealing a ruling in Ontario that suggested a person can only be convicted of murder in cases of suicide when they have “overbore” the will of the person who killed themselves.

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According to section 241 of Canada’s Criminal Code, counselling or aiding suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years. Murder in the first degree carries a mandatory penalty of 25 years.

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Before his arrest in 2023, Law worked as a chef in Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York hotel. He reportedly declared bankruptcy after racking up $134,000 in debt after the hotel kitchen was shut down during COVID-19.

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