By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A man prosecutors now believe assisted in the suicide of a Long Island motivational speaker in Harlem is fighting to have his murder charge reduced to manslaughter or dropped altogether, his lawyer said.
Kenneth Minor, 37, was indicted on charges he killed Jeffrey Locker, a father in deep debt who had just purchased large life insurance policies valued at more than $20 million in the case of an "accidental death."
When Minor was arrested, he told police Locker hired him for an assisted suicide. Locker was found tied up and stabbed to death in his vehicle on July 16, 2009 in Harlem.
Locker "hurled himself against" a knife that Minor held at the dying man's request, he told police.
Last month, prosecutors conceded that Minor's claim was somewhat supported by new evidence, including information that Locker had been researching and making calls to funeral homes shortly before his death.
Prosecutors are willing to drop the murder in the first degree and robbery charges against Minor, but they believe his second degree murder indictment should stand, according to court papers.
Minor's attorney, Daniel Gotlin, believes the judge should order the case sent back to a grand jury to reconsider the new evidence and indict him on the appropriate charges: manslaughter and promoting suicide.
"Let a grand jury be in charge of what he is ultimately tried with," Gotlin said. "There's frankly no reason on Earth why they shouldn't hear it."
If Minor is convicted of murder in the second degree, he faces 25 years to life in prison.
