By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The accused killer of a Long Island motivational speaker told authorities he held out a knife while his victim "hurled himself against it" — an almost unbelievable claim of assisted suicide that might actually be true.
Murder suspect Kenneth Minor's assertion that Jeffrey Locker asked to be killed in exchange for the free use of a credit card was backed up in court by recent admissions by prosecutors.
"Certain information has been discovered which tends to lend some support to [the assisted suicide] claim," Assistant District Attorney Peter Casolaro wrote in a letter to Minor's attorney.
For example, they discovered that Locker had large financial debts, purchased "numerous insurance policies" in recent years and had recently changed the beneficiaries on those policies. Locker had also been doing research online about funeral arrangements, the letter said.
Locker was found tied up and stabbed to death in his vehicle on July 16 in East Harlem, and there was speculation that he was in the neighborhood to visit a prostitute — who was not found — because police believed Locker purchased condoms at a bodega shortly beforehand.
Daniel Gotlin, Minor's attorney, has asked to bring the case back to the grand jury for reconsideration of the charges in light of the discoveries.
"We all agree, this is the most unusual case any of us have ever heard of," Gotlin said, adding that he'd never heard of a single similar case in New York State, in which assisted suicide as a murder defense might be legitimate.
"The question is what that means really in the end for [Minor]," Gotlin said.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney would not comment further and said the case is still under investigation.
