Senate committee hears testimony on ‘Kenny’s Law’

Members of the Judiciary Committee heard testimony on a bill Monday that could change the law regarding bullying that leads to a suicide.

Senate Bill 791, filed by Sen. Jamilah Nasheed in December, would charge anyone with involuntary manslaughter that knowingly causes another person to “commit suicide, including through the use of telephone or electronic communications, and such incitement results in the death of such person.”

Right now, prosecutors have to prove criminal negligence in order to get the charge.

After Glasgow teen Kenneth Suttner committed suicide in December 2016, jurors at a coroner’s inquest into his death found that the manager at the Fayette Dairy Queen where he worked, Harley Branham, was responsible for his death. She was subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter in February 2017.

That charge was amended a few weeks ago, and she is no longer charged with it. She’s now charged with aggravated stalking and harassment.

Senators didn’t take a vote on this bill Monday, it will remain in committee for now.