TORONTO — Kenneth Law is scheduled to appear in a Newmarket, Ontario court on Monday afternoon to plead guilty to counseling or aiding suicide, his lawyer Matthew Gourlay said. Canadian prosecutors will withdraw all 14 murder charges against Law, Gourlay said.

Law had been facing the 14 murder charges for allegedly selling lethal substances online to people at risk of self-harm. He has been in custody since his arrest at his Mississauga, Ontario home in May 2023.

Law, from the Toronto area, used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, Canadian police said. He is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries, according to police. Authorities in the United States, Britain, Italy, Australia and New Zealand have launched investigations into Law's activities.

Under the Canadian Criminal Code, abetting suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. It is against the law in Canada for someone to recommend suicide. A murder conviction in Canada carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 25 years. The guilty plea to the lesser charge would expose Law to a significantly lower maximum penalty than the murder charges he had been facing.

Assisted suicide has been legal in Canada since 2016 for people aged at least 18. Under Canadian law, any adult with a serious illness, disease or disability may seek help in dying only by asking for assistance from a physician. Law's arrest in May 2023 came after Canadian police traced the online sale and shipment of sodium nitrite to his Mississauga home.