SALT LAKE CITY (KSTU) -- A state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would create a sort of "assisted suicide" law in response to the death of a Utah County girl and a man charged with murder.Tyerell Przybycien is facing a murder charge in the death of 16-year-old Jchandra Brown. He is accused of purchasing supplies, goading the girl into taking her own life and taking video of the death.
"I view it as murder, no question," said Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork. "But we need a tool in which we can charge somebody and the charge will actually stick."
Utah County prosecutors are in some murky legal waters. Przybycien's defense attorneys have argued he did not physically kill her. However, prosecutors allege he purchased rope and tied a noose to a tree for her. They've charged him with first-degree felony murder, arguing his actions merited that.
To give prosecutors more discretion in charges, Rep. McKell (who is also a trial lawyer) is proposing assisting in a suicide fall under the charge of manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
Tribune BEN WINSLOW Dec 29th 2017 2:19PM
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