SALT LAKE CITY — A judge has ruled an 18-year-old Utah man accused of encouraging a teen friend to hang herself and filming it because he was fascinated with death should stand trial on a murder charge.
Judge James Brady in a ruling Tuesday called the case unusual but said Tyerell Przybycien should be tried on allegations that he was deeply involved in 16-year-old Jchandra Brown’s suicide planning.
The judge noted that police found a receipt showing Przybycien bought the rope she used and tied a knot in it for her. Przybycien also told her at times that he would also kill himself.
Przybycien told a friend that helping her would be “like getting away with murder,” prosecutors have said.
His lawyers, though, have said the girl made her own choice — pointing to two suicide notes in her handwriting.
