Kenneth Law Pleads Guilty To Aiding Suicide As 14 Murder Charges Are Withdrawn

Kenneth Law, a Canadian man accused of helping 14 people kill themselves by selling a legal but deadly substance online, will avoid a murder trial by pleading guilty to lesser charges, his lawyer said on Saturday.

“Kenneth Law to plead guilty to some counts, Crown to withdraw murder charges: lawyer Posted April 18, 2026 10:32 am”

CityNews Winnipeg

Matthew Gourlay of Henein Hutchison Robitaille said Law, 60, will plead guilty to counselling or aiding suicide under a deal with Crown prosecutors that will see more serious first-degree murder charges withdrawn.

CityNews Winnipeg

The case is scheduled to return to court in Newmarket, Ontario, north of Toronto, on Monday, and Gourlay said the plea will be entered at a later date.

The Associated Press reported that Law will make a virtual appearance by Zoom before a Newmarket, Ontario, court on Monday afternoon for further scheduling, with the plea and sentencing taking place at a later date.

The Toronto Sun similarly said Crown prosecutors will withdraw 14 charges of first-degree murder and Law will instead plead guilty to 14 counts of aiding suicide at a plea hearing expected to be scheduled for a later date.

The KWKT/AP file described the court process as a planned return to Newmarket, Ontario, while the MKFM/Sky News account said the murder charges will be dropped as part of the plea deal.

Across the coverage, the core change is consistent: Law’s murder exposure is reduced in exchange for a guilty plea to counselling or aiding suicide tied to the same 14 victims.

Canadian police allege Kenneth Law, described as a former cook at a Toronto hotel, operated several websites starting around 2020 through which he marketed and sold a toxic salt and other items that could be used for self-harm.

The South China Morning Post said Law was accused of helping 14 people kill themselves by selling a legal but deadly substance online, and it identified the case as involving 14 victims who were Ontario residents between the ages of 16 and 36 who died by suicide.

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The AP reporting said Law used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested.

The AP file also said authorities suspected Law of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries.

The MKFM/Sky News account added that Law was a chef at the five-star Fairmont Royal Hotel in Toronto and that police said he used a series of websites to market and sell a poisonous chemical to people at risk of self-harm.

The National Post-linked report said investigators believe more than 1,200 packages were sent out globally, with about 160 sent in Canada.

Linfo.re’s account said packages were sent worldwide since late 2020 and that investigators estimate his sales potentially caused deaths of around a hundred people across several countries.

The case’s procedural history is laid out across the reporting, beginning with Law’s arrest and moving through multiple charge upgrades and delays.

“FILE - York Regional Police Inspector Simon James speaks during a news conference in Mississauga, Ont”

KWKT

The South China Morning Post said Law’s case is scheduled to return to court in Newmarket, Ontario, on Monday, with the plea entered at a later date, and it described the deal as withdrawing more serious first-degree murder charges.

The Toronto Sun said Law was expected to make a planned court appearance on Monday and that he has been in custody since charges were laid nearly three years ago, while it also described the trial being delayed as prosecutors and defence lawyers awaited a Supreme Court ruling on an ambiguous area of the law.

That Supreme Court decision is quoted in the Toronto Sun: “I decline to conclusively resolve this abstract legal issue in this appeal,” Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin wrote in the decision.

The Toronto Sun further said that in December 2023 investigators laid 14 charges of second-degree murder pertaining to the same 14 victims, and those charges were later upgraded to first-degree murder.

The National Post-linked report said Law was arrested in May 2023 and charged with 14 counts of second-degree murder in December of that year, while Peel Police also charged him with 14 counts of counselling and aiding suicide.

The KWKT/AP report said Law has been in custody since his arrest at his Mississauga, Ontario, home in May 2023 and that the plea will be to the charges of aiding suicide, with murder charges withdrawn.

The reporting repeatedly contrasts the potential consequences of murder convictions with the maximum penalties for counselling or aiding suicide, framing why the plea deal matters.

The National Post-linked report said Canada’s Criminal Code carries an automatic sentence of life in prison for first- or second-degree murder, with no chance of parole for 25 years, while the charge of counselling or aiding suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

MKFM

The KWKT/AP report similarly said abetting suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years under the Canadian Criminal Code and that a murder conviction automatically means life in prison, with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

The MKFM/Sky News account echoed the same sentencing contrast, stating that a murder conviction automatically means life in prison, with no chance of parole for at least 25 years, while abetting suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

In the background of those stakes, the reporting also described the legal context for assisted suicide in Canada, saying assisted suicide has been legal since 2016 for people aged at least 18.

The KWKT/AP report added that it is against the law in Canada for someone to recommend suicide, even though assisted suicide is legal under the physician-assistance framework.

The plea deal therefore shifts the case from a murder framework to a counselling or aiding suicide framework, with the same 14 victims at the center of the charges.

The plea deal is described against a backdrop of international investigations and cross-border allegations about the scale of Law’s online distribution.

“Saturday, 18 April 2026 17:18 A Canadian chef accused of supplying deadly substances to people around the world who have taken their own lives will have murder charges dropped as part of a plea deal, his lawyer has said”

MKFM

The AP report said authorities in the United States, Britain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand also have launched investigations, and it described Law as suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries.

South China Morning Post

The MKFM/Sky News account said the National Crime Agency previously said they are investigating 109 deaths linked to the supply of poisonous substances through the online platforms.

The National Post-linked report provided additional detail, saying British police identified 232 people in the United Kingdom, 88 of whom died, who bought products from Canada-based websites allegedly linked to Law.

It also said police in Canada said 14 alleged victims in this country were between the ages of 16 and 36 and died in communities across Ontario, as far north as Thunder Bay and as far southwest as London.

The Toronto Sun added that an Aurora family filed a $2-million lawsuit against Law, a Newmarket hospital and seven doctors after their 18-year-old daughter died in September 2022.

The sources also show that official responses were limited at the time of reporting: the South China Morning Post said Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the KWKT/AP report said calls to Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General weren’t immediately answered.