Defense: Woodmere victim was 'con man'

Woodmere motivational speaker Jeffrey Locker was a "con man" who exploited a struggling ghetto dweller in an insurance fraud plot, a defense lawyer for accused suicide-for-hire killer Kenneth Minor told a State Supreme Court jury in Manhattan Thursday.

"Mr. Locker killed himself," lawyer Daniel Gotlin said on the opening day of Minor's murder trial. "He wasn't murdered by some wicked man . . . This was an arrogant individual that used another human being to end his life - a person who was down and out."

Minor, 38, is accused of stabbing Locker, 52, to death in his car in East Harlem in July 2009. Prosecutors admit a financially desperate Locker drove to the city and recruited Minor off the street to help kill him, in hopes that his family would be able to cash in on life insurance that wouldn't pay out for a suicide.

In opening statements, however, the two sides offered dramatically different portraits of who was primarily responsible. Prosecutor Peter Casolaro described Locker as a man who had "lost hope" and devised a "pathetic" plan, but said Minor took advantage of his distress in return for an ATM card.

For Locker, it was "essential to find a person cold enough, cruel enough and indifferent enough to kill another person for money," the prosecutor said. "He found such a person in Kenneth Minor . . . Mr. Minor ignored the most basic principle of human decency, which is not to kick a person when he's down."

Gotlin, however, cast Locker as the exploiter, and pushed some sociological buttons that may appeal to city jurors.

He described Locker as a man who "lived the good life in the suburbs," and said when he came to the city for help with a crime he bypassed tony addresses like Park Avenue, heading instead "to the ghetto . . . till he could find the right sucker."

"Mr. Locker drove in from the suburbs," Gotlin said. "Mr. Minor didn't drive out to Woodmere and say, 'I'm going to find someone who needs to be killed.' "

Minor is charged with second-degree murder. In New York, "causing or aiding" another to commit suicide is treated as manslaughter. Assisted suicide is a defense to a murder charge. Minor has not been charged with manslaughter, so jurors will be asked to return an all-or-nothing verdict on murder.

Prosecutors contend that assisted suicide involves passive aid, but can't be used by an actual killer. One key factual dispute: Gotlin claims Locker supplied a knife and impaled himself while Minor held it, but prosecutors say Minor supplied the knife and plunged it into Locker.

Casolaro also provided new details on Locker's finances. He said his line of work - motivational seminars for businesses - was suffering in the economic downturn in 2009, and he was saddled with a huge mortgage and college bills for one of his three children.

Bank and credit card statements showed that from January to July, Locker's bank balances had dropped from $86,000 to $5,800, while two of his credit cards had maxed out with a combined debt of $16,000.

In total, Casolaro said, Locker had $18 million in life insurance, but he said $14 million was recently acquired, and the family has received only $4 million from old policies bought prior to the suicide exclusion period.