Murder suspect hires famed pathologist

The Harlem man accused of murdering Woodmere motivational speaker Jeffrey Locker in 2009 has retained nationally renowned pathologist Cyril Wecht to testify in support of the defense claim that the death was an assisted suicide, his lawyer said Thursday.

Kenneth Minor, 38, will face second-degree murder charges at his trial next week in Locker's stabbing. The defense contends that Locker hired Minor to help him commit suicide because of financial problems.

Wecht will testify that Locker's wounds were consistent with Minor just holding a knife by Locker's steering wheel while Locker impaled himself, defense lawyer Daniel Gotlin said after a pretrial hearing in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

"He's going to say that Locker lunged onto the knife," Gotlin said. "He's [Locker's] doing the dirty work. He's stabbing himself."

Wecht, formerly the medical examiner in Pittsburgh, for years has been a high-profile author, consultant and media commentator on cases ranging from the John F. Kennedy assassination to the Sunny von Bulow and Laci Peterson cases. He confirmed Thursday that he will testify for Minor.

Locker, 52, was found bound and stabbed to death in his car in Harlem in July 2009, with his ATM card missing.

Prosecutors originally charged Minor with first-degree murder and robbery, but have since conceded that e-mails and financial records support Minor's claim that Locker wanted to be killed in a way that did not appear to be suicide so his family could collect on insurance.

In New York, "causing or aiding" a suicide is not murder. Assisting suicide is a form of manslaughter, which carries a lesser penalty.

In Minor's case, however, presiding Justice Carol Berkman has ruled that the rarely used murder defense is designed only for "passive" assistance to someone who dies by his own action, not someone who takes an "active" role in killing a victim who wants to be killed.

Prosecutors contend that Minor plunged the knife into Locker multiple times, but also assert that just holding it would be "active" enough to be murder.Minor, according to two detectives who testified Thursday in a hearing about his confession, told police that Locker asked him to help with a "Kevorkian," and had a knife and gloves in his car to use in the killing.

"Minor said the victim lunged forward four times," testified Det. Robert Stewart. "He then told Mr. Minor to move to the side where the heart is. At that point he said the victim lunged forward a couple more times."