Insp. Simon James of York Regional Police speaks to the media during a press conference on the Kenneth Law case in Mississauga, Ont., in 2023.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
Kenneth Law, an Ontario man accused of selling lethal substances online to people who later used them to take their own lives, is expected to plead guilty to 14 counts of aiding suicide after murder charges against him are withdrawn.
Police have alleged that Law ran several websites that were used to sell sodium nitrite and other items that can be used for self-harm, shipping them to people in more than 40 countries. The charges against him related to 14 people who died across Ontario.
Here is a timeline of key events in the case:
2026
May 29, 2026: Law is expected to enter his plea in a Newmarket, Ont., court.
April 18, 2026: Gourlay says a plea deal has been reached with Crown prosecutors, who will drop all 14 murder charges against Law. Gourlay says Law would plead guilty to 14 counts of aiding suicide.
2025
Dec. 5, 2025: The Supreme Court of Canada declines to “conclusively resolve” the legal issue regarding whether murder charges can be laid against people who aid in suicides.
October 2025: Law’s trial is pushed back to April 2026 for a second time as the Crown and defence await the Supreme Court decision.
2024
October 2024: Lawyers for Law file a motion for leave to intervene after prosecutors asked the Supreme Court of Canada to urgently review a recent Ontario ruling in a separate case that could undermine the murder charges against him. That ruling suggested a person may only be liable for murder if they provided a person who committed suicide with the lethal substance and “overbore the victim’s free will in choosing suicide.”
July 23, 2024: A New Zealand coroner says four people who died by suicide in that country had ordered items online from a business associated with Law, including two university students, a 21-year-old woman and a 40-year old man. The coroner noted that Law’s activities were outside the jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.
Jan. 26, 2024: Law’s lawyer confirms that all 14 counts of second-degree murder had been upgraded to first-degree murder, and that the case would proceed by direct indictment, meaning there would be no preliminary inquiry. Gourlay says Law would plead not guilty to all charges.
2023
Dec. 12, 2023: Police announce 14 counts of second-degree murder charges against Law, in addition to his 14 existing charges of aiding suicide, for a total of 28 charges. Law’s lawyer, Matthew Gourlay, says his client would be pleading not guilty to all charges.
Sept. 12, 2023: Montreal police announce they are also investigating allegations against Law, suspecting he may have sent kits containing sodium nitrite to addresses in Montreal.
Aug. 29, 2023: Police announce an additional 12 new charges against Law of aiding and counselling suicides across Ontario. They allege Law started to operate the websites he used to market sodium nitrite and other items that can be used for self-harm in late 2020.
Aug. 25, 2023: Britain’s National Crime Agency says it has identified 232 people in the U.K. who bought products from Canada-based websites allegedly linked to Law in the two years prior to April, 88 of whom had died.
June 16, 2023: Peel Regional Police announce 11 Ontario police forces have formed a major joint operation investigating Law.
May 10, 2023: Several other police forces in Canada, including those in Toronto and Durham Region, say they are reviewing sudden deaths in light of the allegations against Law.
May 2, 2023: Peel Regional Police announce they have arrested Law and charged him with two counts of counselling and aiding suicide.
April 25, 2023: The Times of London publishes an investigation into Law, reporting on his alleged global online operation.
March 31, 2023: Peel Regional Police investigate the circumstances of a local sudden death where the person is believed to have consumed a chemical substance. It’s the first of two deaths police would later link to Law and the allegations against him.
2022
Oct. 14, 2022: A coroner’s report in the United Kingdom looking into the April death by suicide of a woman in Surrey lists a postal box in Mississauga, Ont., and the name of one of the websites police linked to Law.