You may recall the strange, sad death of Jeffrey Locker, a failed motivational speaker who was drowning in debt when his dead body was found in his car in Harlem in July 2009. The man accused of killing him, Kenneth Minor, has claimed since the day he was arrested that Locker hired him to help him commit suicide and make it look like a murder so his family could collect insurance money. After looking into Locker's actions leading up to his death, investigators eventually came to believe Minor, and prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder. But Minor's lawyers insist he's only guilty of manslaughter, and his fate could hinge on how the jury interprets the state's assisted suicide law.

Minor claims Locker gave him his ATM card and PIN to use after he died, then asked him to bind his hands and hold a knife on the steering wheel. He says Locker then plunged the knife into his chest at least half a dozen times. According to the law, assisted suicide qualifies as second-degree manslaughter, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, as opposed to 25 years to life for murder. But the Times reports that the law is restricted to cases "in which a person takes a passive role in someone’s suicide, prosecutors say. An example would be providing the gun that a man uses to kill himself."

Justice Carol Berkman, who is presiding over the case, has said that Minor’s actions might not have been passive, and she might not not instruct the jury on the law regarding an assisted-suicide defense. And assistant DA Peter Casolaro wrote in a court filing last year, "where a person actually performs or actively assists in performing the overt act resulting in death, such as shooting or stabbing the victim, administering the poison, or holding one under water until death takes place by drowning, his act constitutes murder," regardless if it was "committed pursuant to an agreement with the victim."

Here's the NY State Department of Health's website about assisted suicide (it's probably outdated since it says "Governor Pataki").