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The Associated Press
Fairbault, Minn.

Former nurse guilty of assisting suicide sentenced

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William Melchert-Dinkel
William Melchert-Dinkel, center, leaves the Rice County Courthouse with his attorney Terry Watkins, right, and wife, Joyce Melchert-Dinkel, after waiving his right to a jury trial Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011, in Faribault, Minn. Melchert-Dinkel, 48, of Faribault, faces two counts of aiding suicide, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Prosecutors say he encouraged two people to take their lives, including 18-year-old Kajouji, of Brampton, Ontario, who jumped into a river in 2008; and 32-year-old Mark Drybrough, of Coventry, England, who hung himself in 2005.
Robb Long / AP 2011

Updated at 1:48 p.m.

A former nurse in Minnesota who admitted going online and encouraging two people to kill themselves is headed to jail.

William Melchert-Dinkel was ordered Wednesday to serve 178 days in jail.

Sept. 9: Judge convicts Melchert-Dinkel of assisting suicide

He was sentenced to three years in prison, but he won't have to serve the prison term if he complies with conditions of probation that include the jail time. Melchert-Dinkel must report to jail Oct. 24.

The 52-year-old was convicted in September of one count of assisting a suicide and one count of attempting to assist a suicide in the deaths of an English man and a Canadian woman. The convictions came after the Minnesota Supreme Court narrowed the state's assisted-suicide law and reversed earlier convictions.

Melchert-Dinkel told the judge he was sorry for his actions.