FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2011 file photo, William Melchert-Dinkel, center, leaves the Rice County Courthouse in Faribault, Minn., with his attorney Terry Watkins, right, and wife, Joyce Melchert-Dinkel, after waiving his right to a jury trial. Melchert-Din
FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2011 file photo, William Melchert-Dinkel, center, leaves the Rice County Courthouse in Faribault, Minn., with his attorney Terry Watkins, right, and wife, Joyce Melchert-Dinkel, after waiving his right to a jury trial. Melchert-Dinkel, 48, of Faribault, was found guilty Tuesday, March 15, 2011 of aiding the suicides of 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, File, Associated Press
By Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota man has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail for encouraging two people he corresponded with over the Internet to kill themselves.

A judge on Wednesday ordered William Melchert-Dinkel (MEL'-kurt DINK'-ehl) to serve 360 days in jail for his conviction on two counts of aiding suicide. Prosecutors say Melchert-Dinkel encouraged an English man and a Canadian woman to kill themselves.

Judge Thomas Neuville's sentence was far less than the maximum 15 years Melchert-Dinkel could have gotten on each count.

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