PRZYBYCIEN TIED THE NOOSE FOR HER, ASSISTED SUICIDE
If you help someone kill themselves, are you committing murder? A Utah teen urged a girl to kill herself and wrote about it on Facebook. Eighteen-year-old Tyerell Przybycien bought the rope his friend, Jchandra Brown, used to kill herself. He even tied the noose for her. He also recorded the suicide. She was impressionable and in need of social support. But instead, Pryzbycien encouraged her to hang herself. He eerily asked her to give a thumbs-up to the camera during her last breaths. Przybycien is facing a first-degree murder charge for the assisted suicide.
UTAH TEEN FELT THAT HE DID KILL HER
Judge James Brady ruled the teen should face a murder charge, as it is reasonable to infer that she would not have killed herself had he not been there, encouraging her to do so. The judge explained that Przybycien did not take any precautions in the teen’s death. However, his defense lawyers argue that Brown made her own choice to kill herself. In a recorded interview, Przybycien said that he felt that he did kill her because he had helped her so much in the process of suicide. He didn’t just help in the assisted suicide, he pushed her to do it. The teen set the wheels in motion, but others believe that ultimately, she made the decision to end her life. But can he escape criminal responsibility?
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UTAH HIGHEST RATES OF SUICIDE OR MURDER IN THIS CASE
Utah averages 578 suicides a year. This state has the highest age-adjusted suicide rates in the US in 2015. It has also been the leading cause of death in Utahns aged ten to seventeen. Officials are unsure as to why suicide rates have risen so drastically. Lack of social supports and high altitude could be a factor. But there are no numbers for a case of assisted suicide like this in Utah.
SIMILAR TO CASE OF TEXTING BOYFRIEND TO DIE
The case is very similar to another in Massachusetts, involving Michelle Carter who encouraged her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself over a dozen text messages. She was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter this year; however, she remains free as she appeals the decision. While that wasn’t an assisted suicide by Carter, it was overwhelming pressure on her part that he kill himself.
More: New York Catholic Leader Opposed to Assisted Suicide Bill
