Trial opens in motivational speaker's NYC death

Jurors in the murder case surrounding a motivational speaker's death in New York City are hearing an unusual story: an apparent street crime that the accused man says was actually an assisted suicide.

Opening statements began Thursday in Kenneth Minor's trial.

Manhattan prosecutors acknowledge there's evidence to support his claim that self-help expert Jeffrey Locker offered to pay to be killed in an apparent robbery so his family could collect insurance money. The 52-year-old Locker was found stabbed in the chest in his car in July 2009, with his hands tied behind his back.

The 36-year-old Minor says he held a knife while Locker lunged into it. Minor offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Prosecutors say Minor's conduct amounts to murder.