Kevorkian looms over right-to-die debate, 01/06/2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk

Jack Kevorkian, once America's most ardent advocate of physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, has ended an eight-year prison sentence apparently determined to wade right back into the right-to-die debate. The 79-year-old retired pathologist's release is likely to push the assisted suicide issue back to prominence. According to reports, Kevorkian's lawyer says his client has been offered lucrative public speaking contracts.

Jack Kevorkian Granted Parole, 13/12/2006, www.cbsnews.com

After more than eight years behind bars for murder, an ailing Dr. Jack Kevorkian will be paroled in June on a promise not to help anyone else commit suicide, prison officials said Wednesday. Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan said the parole board took the 78-year-old Kevorkian's declining health into consideration, along with the question of whether the former pathologist would be a danger to society if he were set free.
"They decide if he is safe for release. And in the decision of the parole board, he is," Marlan said.

Over the summer, Kevorkian's lawyer said that Kevorkian was suffering from hepatitis C and diabetes, that his weight had dropped to 113 pounds and that he had less than a year to live. Last Thursday, Kevorkian promised the parole board he would not take part in another suicide if released.
"I think they believed him — that he would never do it again," his attorney Mayer Morganroth said Wednesday. "I think they understand he is not well, that he should be treated at a proper facility outside prison."

Kevorkian, once the nation's most vocal advocate of assisted suicide, had been turned down for early release four times, but was scheduled to come up for parole for the first time in June. Morganroth said he will ask Gov. Jennifer Granholm to speed up Kevorkian's release. He said Kevorkian recently fell and cracked two ribs while being transported to a prison hospital in ankle chains.
"I'd like to see him have a comfortable existence in the time he has left," the lawyer said, adding that Kevorkian plans to live with friends in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham after his release.

Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca, whose office won the conviction that sent Kevorkian to prison, said he didn't object to the decision to parole him. "I'm certainly not particularly surprised, just due to his alleged health concerns," he said.
During a pre-parole interview Thursday with parole board Chairman John Rubitschun, Kevorkian acknowledged that what he did was wrong, according to Marlan, who sat in on the meeting. "He said, `Legally it was wrong. It was an infraction of the law. I had to do it that way — or so I thought,"' Marlan said.
Now that Oregon has a law on the books allowing assisted suicide in certain cases, Kevorkian said he sees that he should have worked on a legislative solution, rather than trying to go through the courts, the department spokesman said.
"I assumed it was a constitutional issue of choice," Kevorkian was quoted as saying. "I learned the best way to approach this issue is at the legislative level."

Although Morganroth insisted his client is in very poor health, Marlan said Kevorkian "looked as healthy as a 78-year-old man can be." Marlan said Kevorkian said he tried to walk a mile a day around the prison track each morning and afternoon, although his lawyer called that "impossible."

Marlan said Kevorkian assured Rubitschun he won't commit any more crimes.
"Anything that will bring me back to prison I will avoid," the spokesman quoted him as saying. "Prison is no place to live."

Jack Kevorkian - in his own words, 13/07/2006, http://www.detnews.com

The assisted suicide advocate has been in prison since April 1999. He recently responded to a set of written questions from The News through his attorney, Mayer Morganroth.

Q. What is the average day in prison like for Jack Kevorkian?
A. I mostly lay around in bed, take a lot of medication, and receive four injections of insulin. I eat snacks continually because of my weight going down to 113 pounds.

Q. How has your overall treatment been by prison authorities since your incarceration? Do you see any evidence that our prison system helps to rehabilitate prisoners or simply warehouses them?
A. I cannot speak for others, but certainly find prison boring and depression for myself.

Q. Do you have any diversions? Any creative outlet? Recent readings?
A. I had diversion -- I read a lot. I wrote articles and two books (Cornucopia and Glimmericks). However, now I merely lay in bed and occasionally walk out to the garden and pick a few radishes. It is hard to walk because of my vertigo, dizziness, lack of energy, and lack of stability.

Q. Have you made any friends while in prison? Enemies?
A. Yes, I have made some friends.

Q. Who are a couple of the more memorable people you have met in prison? Why?
A. A man by the name of Parnell. I am convinced he is wrongfully imprisoned. The Innocence Project has undertaken his case.

Q. What type of reaction do you get from other prisoners? What do they ask you?
A. The reaction of other prisoners is generally very nice.

Q. What type of mail have you received?
A. I have received oceans of supportive mail, petitions, and letters of encouragement.

Q. What do you miss the most living behind prison bars?
A. Freedom.

Q. When released will you still be involved in assisted suicide, either physically or as an advocate?
A. Only as a person who will speak out to its legalization. I will not be involved otherwise.

Q. Do you have any specific regrets, such as your personal decision to challenge Michigan law against assisted suicide?
A. Yes, I should have worked towards legalization.

Q. Are you still an advocate of assisted suicide?
A. Yes, only that one could have such an option if legal such as in Oregon, Switzerland, etc.

Q. When you are eventually released, what are your plans -- both immediate and long range?
A. I have no long range plans due to my health. I intend to live day by day.

Q.One of the medical reports indicates you may have had "suicidal ideation requiring lockdown" -- can you articulate what happened to you?
A. One time, when in extreme pain and after falling down, I had said loudly on the phone that I couldn't take this much longer. I was overheard by a guard, and he must have concluded suicide ideation requiring lockdown. However, I am not locked down, because in the proper context, it was understood that it was not ideation.

Q.This is the hardest question and one I wish I didn't have to ask but as a reporter I must and I hope your answer is a resounding "NO!" But considering your declining health, the myriad of problems you are facing, would you consider yourself as a candidate for assisted suicide?
A. No, remember I did not advocate assisted suicide, I only advocated that a person should have the right to have an option if he or she, in sound mind, needed and desired it while in irremedial pain and suffering and terminal.

"Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian Dying in Prison, 24/06/2006, © Jim Kouri

The man known to the world as Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian, is suffering in prison from a number of maladies and his condition is of great concern, according to his lawyer.
Kevorkian's legal counsel notified John Rubitschun, Chairman of the Michigan Board of Parole, and Governor Jennifer Granholm that Dr. Jack Kevorkian's health is rapidly deteriorating.
"Today, Dr. Kevorkian weighs a mere 113 pounds," attorney Mayer Morganroth said. "He is suffering from active Hepatitis C, which is attacking his major organs and cannot be treated in prison. His liver enzymes are dangerously high, and his blood sugar is four times normal. On top of all that, it's been determined that he has become diabetic. Frankly, he's in terrible shape," he said.

Morganroth claims Dr. Kevorkian's personal physician told him a month ago that he does not believe Dr. Kevorkian will live for more than a year in prison.
"And that was before complications from diabetes began causing Dr. Kevorkian's condition to deteriorate more rapidly," Morganroth said.
Morganroth filed an application with the Michigan Board of Parole and the Governor over a month ago asking that Dr. Kevorkian be pardoned or that his sentence be commuted to time served.
"Dr. Kevorkian has served seven plus years in prison. He's 78 years old and is now asking consideration from the Governor and Parole board. I think he's more than paid the price," Morganroth said. "It's time for compassion, so Dr. Kevorkian can live out his remaining days and get whatever medical treatment is available for his Hepatitis C and other ailments."

Kevorkian was imprisoned for his role in assisting patients in their commission of suicide. He created a national firestorm regarding the subject of physician-assisted suicide for patients who, due to their ailments, no longer wished to live. He went as far as inventing an apparatus for these suicides, which his opponents called "death machines."

The Michigan State parole board has rejected Doctor Jack Kevorkian's request to have his second-degree murder sentence commuted, 23/06/2006, © http://www.wistv.com

This is the fourth straight denial for the 78-year-old, who claims he is gravely ill.

Kevorkian, who admits to participating in more than 130 assisted-suicides, is now serving a 10 to 25 year sentence for poisoning a Michigan man. Kevorkian is eligible for parole next year, on June 1st, 2007.

In 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, Michigan, to 10 - 25 years in jail for second-degree murder. The right-to-die advocate gave a patient with "Lou Gehrig's Disease" a lethal injection. Kevorkian emerged in the 1980's as somewhat of a hero to those terminally ill patients who had the conviction but not the strength to commit suicide. Judge Jessica Cooper told the then-70-year-old doctor, "Consider yourself stopped."

Jack Kevorkian, the man known as "Dr. Death," is slowly dying in prison , 24/05/2006, © ABC News

According to his lawyer, Kevorkian seems to have second thoughts about helping people die.

For years, Kevorkian was the center of a national debate around the highly controversial questions surrounding physician-assisted suicide or "mercy killing:" Do the terminally ill have the right to choose when and how they die? Do doctors have the ability, even an obligation, to help them die as they choose? Now, as he sits in jail, Kevorkian may have had a change of heart — not about his dedication to the "death with dignity" movement, but on how he went about promoting it.
Specifically, his lawyer suggests, he questions the more than 100 suicides he said he assisted throughout the 1990s. One assisted suicide — the death of Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk, which was taped and broadcast on "60 Minutes" in 1998 — earned him a prison sentence of 15 years to 20 years for second degree murder.
"He did what he did, and it brought it to public awareness [of physician-assisted suicide]," said Kevorkian's attorney, Mayer Morganroth. "He now realizes that having performed it when it was against the law, wasn't the, probably, appropriate way to go about it. … What he should have done was work towards its legalization verbally. … Pursuing that cause, and not performing it because it still was against the law."

These days, Kevorkian resides in Michigan's Lakeland Correctional Facility. Less than a week ago, Morganroth publicly stated that doctors had told Kevorkian he had less than a year to live. Kevorkian suffers from Hepatitis C, which he contracted during service in Vietnam. Morganroth said Kevorkian's liver enzyme levels were three to four times above normal — a clear signal his liver was failing.
In light of his failing health, Kevorkian has requested a commutation of his sentence, a pardon that would get him released from prison. Under the conditions of his current sentence, he is not eligible for parole until June 1, 2007, but he can apply for a commutation on medical grounds before then.

Attorney Says Kevorkian Health Deteriorating - Seeks Release, 20/05/2006, © 2006 North Country Gazette

Mayer Morganroth, the attorney representing Dr. Jack Kevorkian, filed application with the Michigan Board of Parole and Governor Jennifer M. Granholm Friday seeking the pardon, parole or commutation of Dr. Kevorkian to time served.
In December, the Michigan Parole Board had recommended that the Governor deny Dr. Death's request to grant a pardon/and or commutation of his sentence so that he could "died with some dignity by being free".
The Governor denied Kevorkian's application.

"Dr. Kevorkian is 78-years-old," Morganroth said. "Jack doesn't have very many days left. For God's sake, he's been locked up for more than seven years for an offense that not one doctor in the United States has spent even one day in prison. It's time for compassion ... it's past time."
The petition and doctors state that Dr. Kevorkian will probably not survive another year if kept in prison, because his health has deteriorated so rapidly.
"Dr. Kevorkian has become increasingly frail and has fallen twice, injuring his wrist and fracturing two ribs," Morganroth said.

Dr. Kevorkian also suffers from seriously high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, temporal arthritis, active Hepatitis C which is violently attacking his liver, the attorney says. Kevorkian contracted the Hepatitis C during Vietnam in the service of his country testing soldiers' blood transfusions. His attorney says Kevorkian also suffers from peripheral arteritis, adrenal insufficiency, chronic pulmonary obstruction disease, hypertensive cardiovascular disease and cataracts. Kevorkian is also suffering from diplopia, vertigo, dysphagia, headaches, left ventricular hypertrophy, osteoporosis, ataxia and eschemia.

A recent MSNBC national poll showed that 88% of respondents believed that Kevorkian should be released immediately, according to Morganroth. Similarly, other polls, including one conducted by Comcast, overwhelmingly support Dr. Kevorkian's immediate release from prison, he said.
The parole board also turned down previous requests in 2003 and 2004.

MSNBC had interviewed Kevorkian at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Mich., where he is incarcerated. Kevorkian, who has admitted to participating in at least 130 assisted suicides, was convicted in April, 1999 of fatally injecting drugs into a patient afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease in 1998. He claimed it was euthanasia or mercy killing but the jury said it was murder.

Currently, a film written by Emmy award nominee Barbara Tumer, directed by two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple, and produced by Bee Holder Productions, is in pre-production and will begin filming this year. The film, "You Don't Know Jack," will center upon the life and work of Dr. Kevorkian.

In addition, the attorney said that a newly-published book, "Between the Dying and the Dead," by Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie (University of Wisconsin Press. 2006), will reveal for the first time,"the real man behind the public image of Jack Kevorkian".

Kevorkian moved to Coldwater correctional facility from Lapeer, 19/02/2006, Associated Press

COLDWATER, Mich. Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian has been moved to Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater after requesting a move. He was in the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer. But Kevorkian's lawyer Mayer Morganroth says the 77-year-old wants to be moved back. However, the state says Kevorkian hasn't requested to be transferred back to Lapeer.

Correction officials say Kevorkian was moved February 10th to Coldwater, where he shares an open bay area with four other prisoners. Morganroth says Kevorkian had asked to be moved to a single cell.
Kevorkian suffers from Hepatitis C, along with other ailments and Morganroth says Coldwater is too far from Kevorkian's doctor.

For 'Dr. Death,' a lonely plea, 01/01/2006, http://toledoblade.com ©

Few people have ever worked harder at getting sent to prison than Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan pathologist who made physician-assisted suicide a national issue in the 1990s. After being acquitted of violating laws against assisted suicide in a series of spectacular trials, he switched to euthanasia, videotaped it, and sent the proof to Mike Wallace, who aired it on 60 Minutes.
Kevorkian then fired the flamboyant Geoffrey Fieger, his longtime lawyer, tried to defend himself, and was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999. That was the first time he had been convicted of a major offense, and the judge threw the book at him, giving the elderly man a sentence - 10 to 25 years - far in excess of normal guidelines.

That was nearly seven years ago. Since then, Kevorkian has renounced assisted suicide, vowing to never again get involved with helping people die once he is released. Recently his new lawyer asked that his sentence be commuted to time served, citing the 77-year-old's advancing age and a variety of ailments, from Hepatitis C to high blood pressure. But the Michigan parole board voted 7-2 to keep him locked up until at least June, 2007, when he will be first be eligible for normal parole.
Mayer Morgenroth, "Dr. Death's" attorney, doesn't think his client will live that long, and has asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm to override their recommendation and commute his sentence. That would be politically risky for her; she faces a tough re-election battle, and Republicans would love to be able to accuse her of turning loose a man many of them see as a serial killer.
Nevertheless, commuting Jack Kevorkian's sentence now would be a correct thing to do, as well as a brave one. Men who kill their spouses and try to deny it frequently serve less time than Jack Kevorkian has. His "victim" in this case was a dying man who came to him and begged for help in ending his life before he choked helplessly on his own saliva.

Kevorkian, offensive as his methods were, as jarring as his personality could be, had the courage of his convictions, and has paid a price for them. He says he wants to devote the rest of his life to writing and trying to change the laws, and he should be given a chance. He would also have to agree that if he breaks his word, he'll be tossed back in prison to resume serving his full sentence.

Parole Board Denies Freedom to Jack Kevorkian, aka "Doctor Death", 26/12/2005, http://www.axcessnews.com ©

Last Thursday, Michigan's parole board in a 7-2 vote denied a plea to release Dr. Jack Kevorkian, known as Doctor Death, with a Governor's pardon or commutation of his sentence.
"I am stunned by the action of the Michigan Parole Board, who seem determined to see Dr. Jack Kevorkian die in prison," his attorney, Mayer Morganroth said.
When asked how Dr. Kevorkian took the news, Morganroth said: "Jack is extremely disappointed and asked me to please convey the following message to the governor. 'I hope Governor Granholm has the courage, but more so, the compassion, to set a sickly old man free.' And those are Jack's exact words."

Kevorkian is 77 years old and has served almost seven years of his sentence for his illegal performance of doctor-assisted suicides. He is up for parole in 2007, but Morganroth fears Kevorkian won't last that long.
"He is in bad shape and it infuriates me that the Michigan Parole Board has unconscionably and irresponsibly ignored the fact that the prison doctor has repeatedly told Dr. Kevorkian that he should be out of prison. Medical records clearly and without question shows that his liver is being attacked by Hepatitis C and that will eventually kill him."

The Governor will now decide whether or not to free Kevorkian and Morganroth says he hopes politics don't intimidate the Governor from doing the right thing.
"Governor Granholm has made it crystal clear that she is opposed to assisted suicide, and I respect her for that," Morganroth said. "However, Dr. Jack has promised he will not in any way be involved in any of that if he is released from prison. I would hope in the sprit of the season Governor Granholm finds the compassion to do the appropriate thing and release Jack," Morganroth said.

Morganroth said if the Governor refuses to release Dr. Kevorkian, he would continue to fight. "After all, 88 percent of the Americans polled by MSNBC News said Dr. Kevorkian should be freed from prison."
The MSNBC poll is not a scientific poll, but a push poll that is not supervised.

"You Don't Know Jack" Producer Says "Set Him Free", 22/11/2005, ETPRNewswire ©

When Hollywood producer Steve Jones was informed that attorney Mayer Morgan Roth has filed papers asking Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to immediately release Dr. Jack Kevorkian from prison, he was excited.
"I'm ecstatic that Dr. Jack Kevorkian may finally be free," Jones said. "Six and a half years is long enough to be punished, especially since Dr. Jack has made it very clear that he will not break the law again. There is no reason to continue to punish, maybe even kill him by keeping him in prison."
Jones, whose Bee Holder Productions banner is bringing the life story of Dr. Kevorkian to a global screen, said the "eyes of the world are on this story." He cited a recent MSNBC national poll where 88 percent of those participating said Kevorkian should be freed.
"I'm hopeful that Governor Granholm will, this time, be courageous enough to refuse to be threatened by political enemies. She's made it clear she is opposed to assisted suicide," Jones said. "Now, she can make it clear she also has compassion."

A remarkably talented team has come together to tell this story, Jones explained. Highly respected longtime Hollywood screenwriter Barbara Turner (Georgia, Pollack) is writing the script, and two-time Academy Award winner, Barbara Koppel will direct. LA rumblings are that Academy Award winning actor Ben Kingsley could play Dr. Kevorkian. Daniel Day Lewis, an Academy Award winning actor, is also being talked about.
"It's very important that people understand this is the story in the vein of 'A Beautiful Mind,'" Jones said. "'You don't Know Jack' is not an endorsement of assisted suicide or a condemnation of it. Dr. Kevorkian is a man who walks in the footsteps of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and we're going to tell his story, his struggle, and let the audience decide how they feel about any of the issues that he has taken on."

A book that reveals the many facets of Jack Kevorkian: artist, writer, pianist, and composer, has been snapped up by publishers domestically and abroad, and will be released early next year.

Lawyer Lobbies For Pardon For Kevorkian, 19/11/2005, The Associated Press ©

Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian is in such bad shape, he might not live until he's eligible for parole in 2007, his lawyer said. The lawyer is seeking a pardon or a commutation of Kevorkian's 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder for giving a fatal injection of drugs to a man who was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1998.
Kevorkian is 77 and suffers from a number of ailments, including high blood pressure, Hepatitis C, arthritis, cataracts and osteoporosis. His attorney said he's in "dire shape" and "almost to the point of no return" because of the harshness of prison life.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said in the past that she won't consider pardoning Kevorkian. Two previous requests with Michigan's parole board, in 2003 and 2004, were denied.

'Dr. Death' coming to big screen, 28/10/2005, Tatiana Siegel ©

An unpublished biography of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the incarcerated proponent of physician-assisted suicide, is being turned into a movie by Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple.

"You Don't Know Jack" will be based on the book of the same name, written by Kevorkian's assistant of 25 years, Neal Nicol, and the doctor's neighbor and lifelong friend, Harry Wylie. The project marks the first time the 77-year-old physician, nicknamed Dr. Death, has fully authorized anyone to tell his story.
"The film will examine the fascinating life of man who is a household name, yet no one knows his actual story," said the film's producer, Steve Jones. "It's not a film about euthanasia but instead a look at a passionate man who spent his entire life fighting for rights he believes that every human should have."
Kevorkian is serving the seventh year of a 15- to 25-year prison sentence.

Barbara Turner will write the script. Her credits include "Pollock," which garnered a best supporting actress Academy Award for Marcia Gay Harden. Kopple won her Oscars for "Harlan County, USA" and "American Dream."

Kevorkian 'won't kill again', 30/09/2005, http://www.news24.com ©

If released from prison, former doctor Jack Kevorkian says he'll still campaign to legalise assisted suicide but won't resume helping people to die that way. Kevorkian, 77, is serving a 10 to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder for giving a fatal injection of drugs to a patient with Lou Gehrig's disease in 1998. Kevorkian, who has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, is not eligible for parole until 2007.
In an MSNBC interview recorded at a Michigan prison and broadcast on Thursday night, Kevorkian said he also hopes to travel and visit family if granted parole. He emphasised that he would not help those who want to die by breaking the law or encourage other doctors to do so.
"I have said publicly and officially that I will not perform that act again when I get out," he said. "What I'll do is what I should have done earlier, is pursue this from a legal standpoint by campaigning to get the laws changed." When asked by interviewer Rita Cosby if he regretted the actions that put him in prison, Kevorkian replied: "Well, I do a little."

Kevorkian also discussed the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed in March after her husband won a court order to allow her to die. Kevorkian said that had the woman's situation come up 10 years ago, he would have considered taking her as a patient.

Kevorkian gives TV interview from prison, 29/09/2005, Associated Press ©

Jack Kevorkian will use the legal system to campaign for changes to assisted-suicide laws if he's released from prison. The former doctor's interview with cable channel M-S-N-B-C's Rita Cosby aired on the network at nine p-m today. In excerpts released to the media before its airing, the 77-year-old said he plans to travel and visit family if granted parole in 2007.

Kevorkian is serving a ten-to-25-year sentence in the Thumb Correctional Facility for second-degree murder. He was convicted of fatally injecting a Lou Gehrig's disease patient with drugs.

Dr. Death moves on, shifting his focus to personal freedom, 22/07/2005, Jack Lessenberry ©

Jack Kevorkian was once a regular feature on the nightly news, a figure of ferocious controversy and a pop-culture icon at the same time. That was back in the long-ago 1990s, when every American knew his name and virtually nobody had heard of Osama bin Laden.

Today, Dr. Death sits in a jail cell in Lapeer, Michigan, 77 years old, out of touch with the media and nearly forgotten. But if Ruth Holmes has her way, that may be about to change. Ms. Holmes, a well-known document examiner, regards the man who made assisted suicide famous as a martyr, a hero, and a genius. And she wants the world to know he has a new cause, a new passion, and a new book: Amendment IX: Our Cornucopia of Rights, which she and her daughter Sarah helped him put together and publish.
Simply put, it is about one of the least-known amendments in the Bill of Rights. The Ninth Amendment says: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." For the former pathologist, that says it all.
"Every human being is born with the lifelong, powerful, unalterable, essentially instinctual will or drive to absolute personal freedom," Kevorkian declares at the beginning of his short (65 pages) paperback, which is more like an extended pamphlet.
The full power of natural rights is latent in Amendment IX of the Bill of Rights, he argues over and over again. According to his theory, the Ninth Amendment renders all the other amendments superfluous. He believes the Ninth Amendment guarantees the right of assisted suicide, or, as he would put it, "the right to seek a competent medical professional's assistance in ending unendurable suffering." He also thinks it guarantees the right to marry anyone of any sex, ride a motorcycle without a helmet, carry concealed weapons, or fly the flag.
In short, Kevorkian, who usually voted Libertarian when he voted at all, is now more concerned with personal freedom than with assisted suicide.
Writing even a short book wasn't easy for the elderly inmate, who is only allowed to write in longhand, and has very limited access to reference materials. Some of it he mailed out in the form of letters. Some he dictated over the phone to Sarah Holmes, at considerable financial cost to her family. Prisoners have to reverse the charges on any call they make, and a heavy surcharge is added. "We don't even talk about the phone bill," Ruth Holmes said.

The book is frankly well-written, thought-provoking, and interesting, and only occasionally lapses into rant. Whether his arguments are likely to sway the legal community is doubtful. Robert Sedler, a distinguished professor of constitutional law at Wayne State University, and a supporter of Kevorkian, once noted that the Ninth Amendment is "a little like Hamburger Helper. It needs to be used in connection with something else," another legal argument.
There has never been - as Kevorkian himself notes - a U.S. Supreme Court decision based on the Ninth Amendment. He thinks it is about time, and unless we start giving it the primacy it deserves, a fascist America is inevitable. "(The Ninth Amendment's) seismic power will help us restore our struggling Republic's tarnished glory," he concludes.

Whether Kevorkian himself will ever be restored to prominence seems doubtful. After presiding over (he says) more than 130 assisted suicides, he was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 for performing euthanasia on Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease and wanted to die. Ever since, he has been serving a 10- to 25-year sentence. Technically he won't be eligible for parole until May, 2007, but his lawyer, Mayer Morgenroth, plans to file a motion this November asking the governor to commute his sentence or move up the date when he becomes eligible for parole. That seems unlikely. Though Jack Kevorkian vows he will give up helping people die, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is highly risk-averse, and is said to be adamantly opposed to everything Kevorkian has done.
We won't give up, said Ms. Holmes, who said a Hollywood producer is planning a major movie on Kevorkian, though details are hazy. For now, she hopes his new book, which his supporters are selling for $8, will make a difference. Whatever you think of Prisoner 284797, his latest book is worthwhile for the quotations he's collected here from famous people. My favorite is from Mohandas Gandhi, the Indian prophet and martyr, who was once asked what he thought about western civilization. "It would be a good idea," the Mahatma said.

Kevorkian back in prison after temporary release for surgery, 07/02/2005, AP ©

Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian is back in prison after undergoing surgery for a double hernia, his attorney said Monday. Mayer Morganroth said Kevorkian returned to the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer on Sunday. Morganroth said Kevorkian is in pain and will receive some follow-up treatment, but he didn't know if Kevorkian would be released again or if he would be treated at the prison.
"They don't really tell us. They just grab him and take him to the hospital," Morganroth said. He was released from prison last Thursday and underwent surgery Friday at Foote Hospital in Jackson. Kevorkian was kept in a separate wing apart from other patients and was under constant guard.

Kevorkian said his cell had been cleared of his books and other belongings when he returned Sunday, Morganroth said. Morganroth said the prison cleaned it out for security reasons but was returning Kevorkian's belongings on Monday.

Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, but has promised in affidavits and requests for pardon or commutation that he will not assist in a suicide if he is released from prison. He is eligible for parole in 2007. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said she won't consider pardoning Kevorkian.

Kevorkian gets short release for hernia operation, 05/02/2005, ASSOCIATED PRESS ©

Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian underwent bilateral hernia surgery yesterday, a day after he was temporarily released from prison so he could have the procedure performed. He will likely stay in the hospital for a few weeks before returning to prison, his lawyer said.
Leo Lalonde, a Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman, said Kevorkian underwent surgery yesterday morning at Foote Hospital in Jackson and is under constant guard in a secure wing separate from regular patients.
Besides the hernia, Kevorkian reportedly has hepatitis C, high blood pressure, arthritis, a heart murmur, circulatory problems, and the beginning stages of cataracts in his eyes.

Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, but has promised he will not assist in a suicide if he is released from prison.

Kevorkian Parole Request Goes Nowhere, 07/12/2004, Associated Press ©

The Michigan Parole Board says it won't act on a request from assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian's lawyer to grant Kevorkian parole or commute his sentence. The board says the application is essentially the same as one submitted for Kevorkian in November 2003.
That request was denied, and because the latest application was essentially the same as the 2003 request, the parole board returned it to lawyer Mayer Morganroth. It says he can apply again in November 2005.

Kevorkian was convicted in Michigan of second-degree murder in the 1998 poisoning of Thomas Youk. Youk had Lou Gehrig's disease, and Kevorkian called it a mercy killing.
Morganroth recently asked the parole board to recommend the 76-year-old Kevorkian be released because of health problems.

Freedom is sought for ailing Kevorkian, 9/11/2004, www.freep.com ©

A lawyer for Dr. Jack Kevorkian said the man sometimes called Dr. Death is in poor health and should be released from prison.
Southfield attorney Mayer Morganroth filed an application for a pardon or a commutation of the sentence for Kevorkian on Monday, asking the Michigan Parole Board to recommend to Gov. Jennifer Granholm that Kevorkian be released from the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer. Kevorkian's ailments, according to Morganroth, include high blood pressure, arthritis, hernia, hepatitis C, cataracts, heart disease, adrenal insufficiency suggestive of Addison's disease, and lung disease.
Kevorkian, 76, has said he has assisted in more than 130 deaths.
In 1999, he was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison after convictions of second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance. He is eligible for parole in 2007.

Morganroth's request comes a week after the U.S. Supreme Court decided against hearing Kevorkian's appeal of the second-degree murder conviction for the 1998 televised poisoning of a man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Supreme Court rejects Kevorkian’s appeal 02/11/2004

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by assisted-suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian Nov. 1, shutting down his attempts to convince the judiciary to overturn a murder conviction that resulted in a prison sentence of 10 to 25 years.
The high court announced without comment it would not review Kevorkian v. Warren on appeal from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Kevorkian contended he was ineffectively represented in his 1999 trial, but a lower court and the Sixth Circuit rejected his argument. The Supreme Court also refused to accept his appeal two years ago in which he argued the prosecution in his case was unconstitutional, according to The Daily Oakland Press in Michigan.

Kevorkian, who has served five years of his sentence, has one hope remaining for early release -– a pardon or commutation from Gov. Jennifer Granholm, The Daily Press reported.

Kevorkian was the face of the assisted-suicide movement during the 1990s. He escaped conviction in four trials, though he said he helped more than 130 people take their own lives through the use of his “suicide machine,” which enabled a person who requested death to administer the legal drugs.

An Oakland County, Mich., court found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Thomas Youk, 52, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease. In September 1998, Kevorkian injected a lethal dose of drugs into Youk, an act he acknowledged as euthanasia rather than assisted suicide. A home video of the fatal injection was later telecast on the CBS news program “60 Minutes.”
Kevorkian, 76, has served five years in prison and will be eligible for parole in June 2007, The Daily Press reported.

The retired Michigan pathologist became an often-unwelcome poster boy for a movement seeking to gain legalization of physician-assisted suicide. Oregon remains the only state to have legalized assisted suicide. The practice went into effect there in 1997.
The Supreme Court has permitted assisted suicide to be handled by the states. In 1997, the high court ruled states could ban assisted suicide, but the justices did not block states from legalizing it. The Southern Baptist Convention adopted resolutions condemning assisted suicide and/or euthanasia at its 1992, 1996 and 2001 meetings.

You Don't Know Jack 19/10/2004, http://www.ew.com/ ©

Ben Kingsley may play Dr. Kevorkian. Oscar-winning director Barbara Kopple plans a biopic of the assisted-suicide doctor.
A movie about assisted-suicide physician Jack Kevorkian may sound like box office poison, but what if you cast a name actor like, say, Ben Kingsley? According to the Detroit Free Press, two-time Oscar-winning director Barbara Kopple and producer Steve Jones are planning to make a biopic of the Michigan doctor, and the Oscar-winning Gandhi star is at the top of their wish list.
"I don't intend to make a film that bolsters euthanasia", Jones told the Free Press. "This is a story about an extraordinary life. No matter what you think of Kevorkian, he is a genius. His story is multifaceted and riveting".
Jones said Kevorkian, 76, will be helping him and Koppel as much as he can by providing access to personal papers. He's currently serving the fifth year of a 10-to-25-year sentence for the assisted suicide of Thomas Youk in 1998, one of 130 suicides Kevorkian says he has assisted. Jones visited Kevorkian last week at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Michigan. His legal team has been preparing a request for a new trial before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kopple, best known for documentaries about labor strikes (as in Harlan County U.S.A. and American Dream) and controversial people (Mike Tyson, Woody Allen). She'll oversee the tranformation of a 300-page unpublished manuscript about Kevorkian written by his friends, Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie. "The film is going to be a real, honest look at the journeys people make. It will look at the life of Dr. Kevorkian and all the incredible layers of his personality. And it will look at a man who's given up so much for what he believes".

Lawyer asks high court for new Kevorkian trial 23/09/2004, David Ashenfelter ©

A lawyer for assisted suicide physician Jack Kevorkian has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant him a new trial.
Southfield lawyer Mayer Morganroth asked the nation's high court Sept. 15 to review the case on grounds that Kevorkian didn't receive a fair trial in 1999. In June, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds' decision last November denying Kevorkian's request.

Kevorkian, 76, is serving a 10 to 25-year second-degree murder sentence at the Thumb Regional Correctional Facility in Lapeer for the 1998 videotaped poisoning of Thomas Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. The tape was aired on CBS's "60 Minutes." Kevorkian won't be eligible for parole until 2007.

Dr. Death shops book on his lif, 13/09/2004, www.crainsny.com ©

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is shopping a book to New York publishers about his life and the euthanasia controversy he sparked in the early 1990s, when he began helping terminally ill patients commit suicide.
The Life of Dr. Death, which Dr. Kevorkian would write with two associates, is also generating movie interest. According to the Vigliano Agency, which is handling the proposal, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple has agreed to direct.

Court denies Kevorkian appeal 23/06/2004, CNN.com ©

A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal for a new trial for assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, who has been behind bars since 1999.
In a one-page decision released Tuesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling last November by U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds denying Kevorkian's petition. Kevorkian plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court because he did not get a fair trial, said his attorney, Mayer Morganroth.
"If it wasn't Kevorkian's name on the case, there would have been a different decision," Morganroth said.
Kevorkian, 76, is serving 10 to 25 years at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer for second-degree murder in the 1998 videotaped poisoning of Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease.

Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, but has promised in affidavits that he will not assist in a suicide if he is released. Kevorkian could be eligible for parole in 2007, but could remain in prison until 2019.

Kevorkian Expects to Die in Prison 11/04/2004, Associated Press ©

Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, behind bars for the videotaped lethal injection of a man in 1998, says he expects to die in prison, but has few regrets. In a telephone interview with The Daily Oakland Press of Pontiac published Sunday, the 75-year-old retired pathologist said he does not see his work as a failure.
"There's no doubt I expect to die in prison," said Kevorkian. "All the big powers, they've silenced me - So much for free speech and choice on this fundamental human right."
"I failed in securing my options for this choice for myself," Kevorkian said. "But I succeeded in verifying the Dark Age is still with us. When history looks back, it will prove what I'll die knowing."

Kevorkian is serving 10 to 25 years for second-degree murder in the 1998 videotaped poisoning of Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease and was shown on CBS' "60 Minutes" receiving a lethal dose of potassium chloride.
Kevorkian also spoke with the newspaper about prison life. If he feels forsaken by the people he tried to help, Kevorkian didn't acknowledge it. "I don't feel abandoned; I knew what I was doing," he said. "Look, it's OK. They're frightened. They won't do anything. I knew that. I didn't do this for other people; I did this for me. I fought for this right for me - does that sound selfish?

Kevorkian said there has been no outcry over his imprisonment because his supporters are "frightened."
"The American people are sheep. They're comfortable, rich, working. It's like the Romans, they're happy with bread and their spectator sports," he said. "The Super Bowl means more to them than any right."

Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, but has promised he will not assist in any more suicides if he is released from prison. He said in the interview that he stands by that promise.
Kevorkian lives in a 7-by-11-foot cell with a radio, his books and crosswords. He will be eligible for parole in 2007.

Kevorkian's attorney Mayer Morganroth hopes the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will review his conviction. And a group that calls itself "The Boyhood and Lifelong Friends of Jack Kevorkian," has started a letter-writing campaign urging people to ask for his release.
But Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said Kevorkian should be treated no differently than others.
"He flouted the law and baited, no, begged me, on national TV to prosecute him," Gorcyca said. "It wasn't like we were looking for an opportunity to charge him. Now he has to suffer the penalty."

IS THE WORLD READY 05/04/2004, www.newsday.com ©

Is the world ready for the as-told-to life story of the infamous, enigmatic "Dr. Death" - Jack Kevorkian? Well, get ready. The 75-year- old was convicted and sent to prison in 1999, after assisting the suicide of a man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. Now he is anxious to tell about his passionate advocacy of allowing people a choice in ending their terminal suffering. Two longtime associates of Kevorkian's - Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie - are helping him sort out his thoughts.

Literary agent David Vigliano is representing the book, and there is already film talk, with Steve Jones in the producer's slot.

Kevorkian suggests using death row inmates for medical research 17/03/2004, ASSOCIATED PRESS ©

Imprisoned assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian has asked state legislators who advocate lifting Michigan's 158-year ban on capital punishment to permit the condemned to undergo medical experimentation before death.

In a two-page "Open Letter to Michigan Legislators" written from his prison cell, Kevorkian detailed his opposition to the death penalty, but explained that the practice of lethal injection could provide scientific benefits to researchers allowed to experiment with inmates immediately before they die. Kevorkian detailed a similar plan in a 1960 booklet he wrote, "Medical Research and the Death Penalty."

The 75-year-old retired pathologist is being held at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, while serving 10 to 25 years for second-degree murder in the 1998 videotaped poisoning of Thomas Youk of Oakland County's Waterford Township. Youk had Lou Gehrig's disease.
Kevorkian's letter was faxed to state legislators this week, his lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, told The Daily Oakland Press.
Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca described Kevorkian's proposal as "ghoulish" - "It's mad, and it's morbid," Gorcyca said.

State Rep. Larry Julian, R-Lennon, who is sponsoring death penalty legislation, said he did not expect Kevorkian's suggestions to become a part of any bill.
"I think it's ridiculous," Julian said. "I think people have the ability now to donate their bodies to science. But that would be a slippery slope for us."

The state House was expected this week to take up the proposal to allow capital punishment.

Kevorkian writes book from prison cell 02/03/2004, www.freep.com ©

Friends of Dr. Jack Kevorkian have published a book that collects the imprisoned assisted suicide advocate's comments on doctor-assisted suicide, science, philosophy and other topics.
Kevorkian, 75, is being held at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer. He is serving 10 to 25 years for second-degree murder in the 1998 videotaped poisoning of Thomas Youk of Oakland County's Waterford Township, who had Lou Gehrig's disease.

Kevorkian's book is titled "glimmerIQs - A Florilegium" and was with the help of his friends and lawyer Mayer Morganroth.
"It has nothing to do with assisted suicide," said Ruth Holmes of Bloomfield Hills, a handwriting analyst and Kevorkian friend. "He is a brilliant man who has never committed a crime. What does he do all day? He thinks and he creates. This is an example."
The 277-page book took more than two years to create and was the product of a long series of correspondence and phone calls to Holmes and her daughter, Sarah, from Kevorkian, The Daily Oakland Press said Monday.
"Jack had this idea," Sarah Holmes said. "You can open him up and read about medicine, philosophy, science, language. He decided to put it on paper. He decided this was something he wanted to do… It has lifted his spirits over the past few years."

The book is a collection of Kevorkian thoughts, limericks and illustrations on art, music, philosophy, medicine, history and family. There are cartoon sketches and color images of some of his paintings, with explanations of their meanings. The paintings were donated to the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown, Mass.
Kevorkian gives his opinions about diet and freely sprinkles the pages with limericks on whatever moved him at the moment. Chapters include "Terse Verses," "Metricated Chronometry with Improved Metric Prefix Names," "Science vs. Religion" and "Clocking Death." The book includes a sticker with Kevorkian's address at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer and his prison number. The book, which had an initial printing of 5,000 copies, sells for $26 and is available at Ariana Gallery in Royal Oak or at www.glimmeriqs.com.
"Whether he sells 10 or 10,000, it really doesn't matter," Sarah Holmes said. "This is Jack's legacy. This was to take a piece of everything he knows and share it with others."

Morganroth predicted the book will sell well.
"I think some of the guards will buy it and ask him to autograph it," Morganroth said.

Kevorkian is in prison until at least 2007 28/02/2004, www.freep.com ©

Jack Kevorkian, America's most vocal advocate and practitioner of assisted suicide, is serving drug and second-degree murder sentences in the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeerfor his 1999 convictions in Oakland County.

The earliest release date for Kevorkian, 75, is June 2007. If he serves his maximum sentence, he would be released in August 2019 at age 91.

Kevorkian, who had avoided conviction in several homicide and assisted-suicide cases, was found guilty of murder for the 1998 slaying of Thomas Youk, 52, of Waterford, who had Lou Gehrig's disease. Youk's death was videotaped and broadcast on the television news magazine program "60 Minutes."

JACK KEVORKIAN'S LAWYER ON THE MORALITY OF PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

Fieger aims to free Kevorkian 08/10/2003, WENSDY WHITE ©

Lawyer Geoffrey Fieger is making one last bid to free Dr. Jack Kevorkian before the 75-year-old assisted suicide advocate dies in jail. Kevorkian, formerly a long-time resident of Royal Oak, has been in prison since April 1999, when he was convicted of first-degree murder for the Sept. 17, 1998, lethal injection of Waterford resident Thomas Youk, 52, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease.
Fieger and attorney Mayer Morganroth of Southfield will seek Kevorkian's release through subchapter 6.500 of the Michigan Rules of Criminal Procedure, a seldom-used law that permits trial judges to alter or amend original sentences. In order to use the law, a prisoner must have exhausted all appeals, which Kevorkian has. Kevorkian's sentence will be up in April 2007, but it is unlikely he will live to see that day, according to his doctor and attorneys.
"Jack will not live out his term," Fieger said. "Whoever allows him to die in prison will have blood on his hands -and it's not going to be me." Kevorkian's health has vastly deteriorated during the four-and-a-half years he has spent in a 6-by-10-foot cell in the Thumb Correctional Facility. His former personal physician, Dr. Stanley Levy, visited Kevorkian on Sunday and said he suffers from bouts of double vision, blackouts and tremors. He has high blood pressure and is self-treating two hernias by wrapping himself with makeshift bandages. Levy said Kevorkian is not receiving proper treatment for hepatitis C he acquired on the battlefields of Vietnam while experimenting with cadaver transfusions on himself.
Fieger, who hasn't seen Kevorkian in five years, said he was shocked by the man's appearance. Kevorkian was extremely thin and frail, had broken teeth and wore long underwear beneath his clothes to keep warm. Fieger said medical care in prison is "woefully, terribly" inadequate.
Fieger filed motions Monday and Tuesday on behalf of Kevorkian, and included letters of support from the family of Thomas Youk. Fieger said he wants Oakland Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot to face Kevorkian in the courtroom and hear oral arguments in the case. He will argue that Kevorkian committed a "victimless crime" and does not pose a threat to society.
"We're going to have one chance and one chance only," Fieger said. "I'm going to get the man out of jail or he's going to come out feet first in a box." Fieger said Kevorkian has promised not to assist another suicide if he is freed.
"Frankly, he's too old. He wants to see his sister. He wants to lecture. The world is waiting to see and hear from him," he said.

Fieger successfully defended Kevorkian on six murder charges until the pair split in 1998. Kevorkian represented himself in the Youk trial, which arose after Kevorkian played a tape of the assisted suicide during an interview on the television magazine show "60 Minutes."
Kevorkian is said to have assisted in more than 100 suicides, and is both revered and reviled worldwide as the figurehead for doctor-assisted suicide.

Kevorkian deserves to live outside 7/10/2003, © SUSAN AGER -FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Everybody is sure they're right on health care, on abortion rights, on gay rights, on foreign policy. So OK, to each his own. This is America. We can differ without bloodshed.

On one matter, though, I can't imagine who would disagree: Jack Kevorkian has been in prison long enough. The guy's 75 years old. He's been locked up for 4½ years for helping a man die who wanted to die. One of his biggest supporters and frequent visitors is the man's widow.
Kevorkian drove most of us crazy at one point or another with his cockiness, his bull-headedness and his refusal to concede the moment of death to God and to God alone. But he did what his clients asked him to do. He helped people out of misery into peace and, possibly, the happy hereafter.
Yes, he broke a law passed to prevent him from assisting in suicides. So he was nailed, for second degree murder, with a videotape of his own making as evidence.
He's been punished. Monday marks the 52nd month of his imprisonment, most recently at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer. There, he has none of the musical instruments he loves to play. No piano, no flute, no organ. While quite content in scholarly solitude, he has been confined mostly to a 6-foot-by-10-foot cell he shares with a roommate not of his choosing. He has been a model prisoner except for once when he tried to exit the dining hall with his own lunch apple and a second apple given to him by another inmate.

He is paid visits by his attorney, Mayer Morganroth of Southfield, and the attorney's paralegal, Ruth Holmes, who has become an admirer and friend and speaks with Kevorkian by phone every day. He also gets visits from Holmes' daughter, with whom he played the flute in the past, from his physician, from a former neighbor, and from Melody Youk, the widow of Thomas Youk. Youk suffered from ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. His death in 1998 was videotaped by Kevorkian and shown on "60 Minutes," after which the retired pathologist was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to 10-25 years in prison.
There, friends say, he is visibly aging, becoming frailer. On Thursday, he was rushed to a Lapeer ER with sudden double vision and an inability to chew. An EKG, says his attorney, turned up heart irregularities, but he was returned to prison, his wrists and ankles shackled, where he tripped and fell to the floor. In past falls, he has broken ribs and a wrist. He has a double hernia that needs surgery. He takes medication for blood pressure that has been as high as 250/170. His friend, Ruth Holmes, told me, "He deserves a peaceful end of life." He has signed affidavits pledging to never again assist in a suicide.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his conviction. Last week, a judge refused to parole him. Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who rejoined Kevorkian's legal team Monday, is asking Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot to resentence Kevorkian to "time served" and release him. That is the right and compassionate thing to do. Society has made its point: At least until Michigan changes its law, nobody can help anyone else die. Kevorkian is no longer a danger to anyone, if ever he was. If punishment is the point of prison, he has been punished. If rehabilitation is the point, he has pledged to sin no more.
It's time to let him be.

Nearly five years after attorney Geoffrey Fieger lost his most famous client, Jack Kevorkian is back in the fold, 07/10/2003

Fieger plans to represent the jailed suicide doctor Wednesday. Fieger hopes to convince Oakland County Circuit Judge Rae Lee Chabot that Kevorkian, who has served 4½ years of a 10-25 year prison sentence for second-degree murder, should be released early.
"It's important that something be done," said Fieger, who filed his appearance with the court Monday. "Jack's incarceration is brutal and inhumane. He's paid for his alleged sin, although I've yet to find out who the victim is." Fieger wants Kevorkian present for a hearing so the judge can make her own observations about the 75-year-old retired pathologist's condition.
"He is frail and depressed," Fieger said. "I don't want him to die in prison. It was a death sentence. It's absurd."
But the judge appeared to put Fieger's public plans on hold. Her staff notified Fieger and Oakland County prosecutors Monday afternoon that she would be making a ruling on the motion without oral argument. Assistant Prosecutor Anica Letica said Kevorkian is not entitled to appear before the judge or relief from his sentence.
"He hasn't shown the sentence was illegal. He's cited no statutes," Letica said. "You don't get resentenced if you have a valid sentence."
A jury convicted Kevorkian in 1999 of second-degree murder in the injection death of Waterford Township resident Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease. Kevorkian videotaped the death and then shopped it around before convincing CBS' "60 Minutes" to broadcast the euthanasia. On the tape, Kevorkian challenged prosecutors to charge him or leave him alone. More than 15 million viewers watched the show.

Before the trial, Kevorkian shed his normal defense team of Fieger and Michael Alan Schwartz, deciding he could do a better job representing himself. Judge Jessica Cooper, who presided over the trial, urged him to get a lawyer. By the time he brought lawyer Mayer Morganroth into the case, it was too late.

Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder. Cooper exceeded the six-year recommendation and sentenced Kevorkian to 10-25 years in prison.
"No one, sir, is above the law, no one," Cooper said. "You had the audacity to go on national television, show the world what you did and dare the legal system to stop you. Well, sir, consider yourself stopped."

In Detroit last week, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds refused to order Kevorkian's release. He claimed he had been denied effective legal counsel and that his conviction was unconstitutional.
In Wednesday's motion, the defense contends Kevorkian's health is fragile and that he needs to have a hernia repaired and dental work. The motion further contends Kevorkian has considerable medical knowledge that would make him a "valuable and contributing member to society."
"Finally, Dr. Kevorkian reaffirms that he will refrain from all activities prohibited by this court, accept any restrictions, conditions or limitations on his activities and whereabouts, which may be imposed by this court should this court grant Dr. Kevorkian probation," the motion stated.
But Letica said such a promise is hollow. Kevorkian was on bond when Youk died. Kevorkian has made similar requests and each one has been turned down in the past, she said.
"He has not cited a single case or statute which requires that he be given the relief he is seeking," Letica said. But Fieger, who has been associated with Kevorkian for 14 years, was undaunted.
"The overwhelming majority of people don't believe he has committed a crime," Fieger said. "I don't think there is much time left for Jack."

Judge to rule on motion to free Kevorkian without hearing 6/10/03, © The Associated Press

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger announced Monday he is renewing his representation of Jack Kevorkian for the first time in five years, saying the assisted suicide proponent should be released from prison and resentenced to time served. Fieger had planned on arguing in court for Kevorkian's release Wednesday, but the judge in the case sided with the Oakland County prosecutor's office and decided to rule on the motion without oral arguments.
Kevorkian, a 75-year-old who suffers from a variety of medical problems, was sentenced to 10 to 25 years after being convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder in the death of Thomas Youk, who was afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease. He is eligible for parole in 2007.
"Dr. Kevorkian has been more than punished. He has been pilloried," Fieger said in a statement Monday. "His continued incarceration is brutal, inhuman and cruel." Fieger, who persuaded juries in the 1990s to acquit Kevorkian of assisted suicide charges, said he had asked the court for Kevorkian to be present during a hearing.
The request had been scheduled to be heard Wednesday in Pontiac by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot. Instead, Chabot's office said Monday afternoon that she plans to issue a written ruling on Kevorkian's motion at a later date.
Fieger, reached after Chabot's decision to forego a hearing, said he didn't have immediate comment. Anica Letica, an assistant prosecutor, said her office didn't believe oral arguments were needed. Prosecutors have asked Chabot to deny Kevorkian's request for a new sentence.
"Treatment does not act as a get out of jail free card," said Letica, paraphrasing part of her office's written request to Chabot. "There is no legal authority for the judge to resentence him when the previous sentence was valid."
Letica, who works in the office's appellate division, said Kevorkian's original sentence was within sentencing guidelines. And she noted that Kevorkian's health shouldn't be an issue, since has been receiving care while in prison.

Kevorkian represented himself in the Youk trial and had attorney David Gorosh advise him. Fieger has said he was not asked to defend Kevorkian in the Youk case. Gorosh, a former Fieger employee fired over Kevorkian's defense in a misdemeanor trial, began representing Kevorkian after the charges were filed in November 1998.
Kevorkian is imprisoned at the Thumb Correctional Facility near Lapeer. A federal judge recently denied a petition asking that Kevorkian be released.
Youk, 52, of Waterford Township, was shown on CBS' "60 Minutes" receiving a lethal dose of potassium chloride from Kevorkian, who argued during his trial that it was a "mercy killing."
Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths. Michigan banned assisted suicide in 1998.

Assisted-suicide proponent Kevorkian loses latest bid for release from prison 02/10/2003, © DETROIT (AP)

Assisted-suicide proponent Jack Kevorkian lost another bid to end the prison time he's serving in the death of a terminally ill man who was televised receiving a lethal injection in 1998. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds denied Kevorkian's petition for a writ of habeas corpus on Monday. Kevorkian, 75, was sentenced to 10 to 25 years after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Thomas Youk, 52, who had Lou Gehrig's disease. Kevorkian is eligible for parole in 2007.
Youk was shown on CBS' 60 Minutes receiving a lethal dose of potassium chloride from Kevorkian, who argued at trial that it was a "mercy killing."
Kevorkian also filed a motion Sunday in Oakland County Circuit Court for relief of judgment, arguing that he is too sick to stay in prison. Kevorkian suffers from a variety of medical problems, according to his lawyer, Mayer Morganroth. Morganroth said he also plans to appeal Edmunds' ruling, the Daily Oakland Press of Pontiac reported Thursday.
Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths. Michigan banned assisted suicide in 1998 to stop Kevorkian from helping terminally ill people die.

Dr. Kevorkian To Testify As Expert In Brunswick Pollution Lawsuit 25/07/2003, © Associated Press

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who is serving 10 to 25 years in Michigan prison for participating in assisted suicides, is expected to be an expert witness in a Brunswick pollution case. Kevorkian will give a written or taped deposition from prison for lawyers of the nearly 200 people suing AlliedSignal, the former owners of LCP Chemicals' Turtle River plant.
"Back in the 1970s he was doing research on mercury and its toxicity," said Robert Killian, a Brunswick lawyer who is representing the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit.

Kevorkian went to prison in 1999 after giving CBS a videotape of one of his physician-assisted suicides.
The plaintiff's lawyers found documents that said Kevorkian had contacted the Chlorine Institute. AlliedSignal, which recently merged with Honeywell, was a member of the institute. Though Kevorkian did not study the pollution around the LCP Chemicals site, lawyers for the plaintiffs want to see if he can help explain what might have happened at the site.

Kevorkian seeks to have conviction overturned 09/12/2002, © Associated Press

An appeal seeking to overturn the conviction of assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian is pending in federal court and could be addressed as early as January, Kevorkian's attorney said Monday. The appeal claiming that Kevorkian received an unfair trial and citing a host of errors in its handling was filed about five months ago, and the state has until Dec. 31 to file its response, attorney Mayer Morganroth said. After that, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in Detroit can either grant the request, deny it or set an evidentiary hearing, he said. Kevorkian has exhausted all of his appeals at the state level.
In earlier filings, lawyers described Kevorkian as a frail old man who may die while his conviction is on appeal.
They said "seriously high" blood pressure had put the retired Michigan pathologist in danger of a stroke and that he had suffered broken ribs in falls. Michigan authorities say Kevorkian, who has been locked in state prisons since April 1999, has access to high-quality medical care. Kevorkian's attorneys had filed an appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati asking that he be granted bond. That request was to have been heard Monday, but was canceled at the request of his lawyers. Morganroth said the request to reverse the conviction overrides the bond request.

According to a report filed with the appeals court, when asked if he would assist in suicides if bail were granted, Kevorkian said, "I'll always help a suffering patient, and if that keeps me in jail for life, then let it happen." Later in the same interview, Kevorkian said he "misspoke," The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported. "I will not do this again because I feel it would be counterproductive," he said. "I would stump to change the law - those are my true feelings."

Michigan banned assisted suicide in 1998 to stop Kevorkian from helping terminally ill people die.
The U.S. Supreme Court in October rejected Kevorkian's appeal without comment.
Kevorkian, a native of Pontiac, was transferred in August to the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, so he could be closer to his home. Lapeer is about 30 miles north of Pontiac.
He had been at the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, about 65 miles southwest of Pontiac.

High court won't hear appeal by Kevorkian 08/10/2002, © The Oakland Press

Jack Kevorkian's attorney was confident Monday that his client's luck had not run out, though the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal in the 1998 injection death of a Waterford Township man. The high court declined to consider Kevorkian's appeal of his second-degree murder conviction in the death of Thomas Youk.
"Denied," a Supreme Court clerk said simply when asked what the ruling said.
Kevorkian, 74, is serving 10-25 years at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer. Attorney Mayer Morganroth was unsure if his client had heard about the ruling.
"Word travels pretty quickly there," Morganroth said. It is the latest blow for the one-time Pontiac resident and retired pathologist who came to be known internationally as "Dr. Death."
The Michigan Supreme Court in April refused to hear Kevorkian's challenge of an appeals court ruling that upheld his Oakland County conviction. But Morganroth remained upbeat. "We're still in federal court," he said Monday. "We'll ask the Supreme Court to reconsider." Morganroth also has asked a U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds to release him, contending Kevorkian's trial was unfair on several constitutional grounds. Morganroth has argued that Kevorkian was denied a fair trial because he couldn't call certain witnesses in his defense, including Melody Youk, the victim's wife.
He further contends that prosecutors erred by suggesting Kevorkian could have taken the stand and testified, and that Kevorkian has a constitutional right to perform assisted suicide. Prosecutors say there wasn't anything improper about the trial or their conduct.
"Kevorkian is constantly going from one ear to the next to get someone to agree with him," said John Skrzynski, the assistant prosecutor who handled the case against Kevorkian.
"That's been his modus operandi since the beginning. He doesn't seem to understand people don't want to hear what he has to stay anymore. It's a good issue being championed by the wrong person for the wrong reasons. I'm glad the courts have said there was no error."
Kevorkian represented himself during the trial and was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease.
Kevorkian videotaped the death, which was seen by millions of viewers on the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes."
A bond motion before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati for Kevorkian is to be heard on Dec. 9.
He is eligible for parole in 2007.
"The Michigan Supreme Court denied his appeal," Assistant Prosecutor Anica Letica said.
"They were satisfied with the Court of Appeals opinion. I didn't expect (the U.S. Supreme Court) to grant his petition, either."

Kevorkian moved to prison closer to home 20/08/2002, © The Detroit News

A lawyer for Jack Kevorkian says the 74-year-old has been transferred to a prison closer to his home and friends. Mayer Morganroth said Kevorkian, who is serving the fourth year of a sentence for his second-degree murder conviction, was moved to the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer on Friday morning. Kevorkian had been at the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson. Kevorkian has appealed his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court is on summer break, but is expected to decide in the fall whether to hear the case.

Kevorkian petitions high court 18/07/2002, © Norman Sinclair / The Detroit News

Lawyers for Jack Kevorkian have filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn retired pathologist's conviction for second-degree murder in a 1998 nationally televised suicide of a terminally ill Waterford man. The petition also seeks to have the court establish that a person has a constitutional right to be free from "intolerable and irremediable" suffering because of a terminal medical condition. In addition, it wants the court to support Kevorkian's view that administering pain-killing drugs that cause death is also acceptable in the face of unbearable suffering.
Attorney Mayer Morganroth of Southfield said the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office has declined to oppose Kevorkian's application to the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for the court to decide whether or not to hear the case.
Last year, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and the state Supreme Court declined earlier this year to hear the case.
In the petition to the Supreme Court, Morganroth said the Michigan Court of Appeals failed to uphold the U.S. Constitution when it erroneously ruled that it was not up to the court but rather the legislature to determine whether there is a constitutionally protected right to be free of unbearable pain and suffering. Morganroth cited two other issues for the court to consider. First, he said an assistant Oakland County prosecutor violated Kevorkian's Fifth Amendment right to not testify against himself. "The prosecutor on 14 times told the jury that Dr. Kevorkian could have taken the stand and testified," Morganroth said.
The application to the Supreme Court also said Kevorkian had ineffective representation at trial, even though at the time Kevorkian insisted he would act as his own lawyer.
Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca, who filed the murder charge against Kevorkian, said this case is different because Kevorkian did not merely help Youk kill himself, but personally injected the barbiturates into Youk's hand. He said he does not expect the Supreme Court to take up the case. The U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1997 that there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide, is expected to decide in the fall whether to hear the case.

Michigan state Supreme Court refuses to hear Jack Kevorkian's request new murder trial 11/04/2002, © Associated Press

The state Supreme Court has refused to hear Jack Kevorkian's request for a new trial in the death of a 52-year-old man whose suicide was shown on CBS' "60 Minutes." In its 6-1 decision, the high court declined to review a November ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which rejected Kevorkian's bid for a new trial.
Kevorkian, 73, is serving a 10- to 25-year prison sentence for his 1999 second-degree murder conviction in the death of Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease.

The tape of Youk getting a lethal dose of potassium chloride from Kevorkian aired on "60 Minutes." During his trial, Kevorkian had argued that it was a "mercy killing."
The state Supreme Court said it was "not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court." Kevorkian had argued that euthanasia is legal and that his conviction was unconstitutional.
Kevorkian lawyer Mayer Morganroth said he plans to appeal to the federal courts and ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.
The date of the Supreme Court's decision was not immediately known. Prosecutors said they learned of it Wednesday.

Appeals court affirms Kevorkian's murder conviction 21/11/2001, © Associated Press

The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the murder conviction of assisted suicide proponent Jack Kevorkian in the death of a 52-year-old man that was shown on television. The decision was handed down Tuesday and announced Wednesday. Kevorkian, 73, who says he has assisted in more than 130 deaths, is serving a 10- to 25-year sentence for the September 1998 death of Thomas Youk, who was terminally ill with Lou Gehrig's disease. He had videotaped himself injecting Youk with a lethal dose of potassium chloride and gave the tape to CBS' "60 Minutes." The tape was televised in November 1998, and prosecutors quickly responded with a murder charge. Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder in March 1999. He acted as his own attorney for most of the trial, telling the court his actions were "a medical service for an agonized human being." The jury could have convicted Kevorkian of first-degree murder, which would have sent him to prison to life without possibility of parole.

Before the appeals court, Kevorkian's attorney Mayer Morganroth argued that his client deserved a new trial, saying, "I don't think (his conviction) would have occurred had he had effective counsel." But Oakland County assistant prosecutor Anica Letica argued that Kevorkian "knew exactly what he was doing" when he represented himself -- with attorney David Gorosh advising him. She said the conviction should stand. Morganroth also contended that an autopsy never proved that Youk, of Waterford, died as a direct result of the lethal injection given by Kevorkian -- an argument disputed by Letica.

New Kevorkian trial sought 12/09/2001, © The Detroit News

Jack Kevorkian's 1999 murder trial was so unfair that his attorney never questioned whether the patient died from Kevorkian's drugs or from his terminal illness, a lawyer argued Tuesday. More than 2 1/2 years after his conviction for fatally injecting Thomas Youk, Kevorkian's lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, asked three judges from the Michigan Court of Appeals to grant the assisted-suicide advocate a new trial. Morganroth argued that Kevorkian's trial was tainted by a lawyer who failed to help Kevorkian defend himself on the murder charge and that a prosecutor unfairly pointed out that Kevorkian never testified in the case. But Anica Letica, an Oakland County assistant prosecutor, said Kevorkian, 73, insisted on representing himself rather than accept legal counsel. "He wanted a public forum for acceptance of active euthanasia," she told the judges. Youk, a Waterford Township resident, was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

In a September 1998 videotaped procedure later broadcast on the CBS program 60 Minutes, Kevorkian injected the man with potassium chloride, a poison that would stop the heart. Morganroth told the judges that it appeared Youk might have died from his medical condition rather than the injection, but no one challenged that during the trial. But at least one of the judges seemed to reject the idea that something other than Kevorkian's efforts killed Youk. Judge William C. Whitbeck noted that Kevorkian candidly explained during the trial that he didn't want any legal assistance. Kevorkian was not present for Tuesday's hearing and is serving a 10-year to 25-year prison term.

Court to hear Kevorkian murder appeal August 2001, © The Detroit News

After remaining silent for 2 1/2 years on Jack Kevorkian's murder appeal, the Michigan Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case. The state Appeals Court set oral arguments in Kevorkian's case for Sept. 11 in Detroit. Appeals Judges Joel P. Hoekstra, Henry William Saad and William C. Whitbeck will hear the arguments. Kevorkian's attorney, Mayer Morganroth, cited a host of reasons for the appeal, including violation of several constitutional rights and ineffective assistance of counsel. Morganroth said Assistant Prosecutor John Skrzynski violated Kevorkian's Fifth Amendment rights during closing arguments by telling jurors of the retired pathologist's decision not to testify.
"He (Skrzynski) said it five times. The cases are solid that whenever a mention of that is made, the case is reversible," Morganroth said. Morganroth also contends that lawyers David Gorosh and Lisa Dwyer, who argued all of Kevorkian's motions before, during and after the trial in Oakland Circuit Court, botched the case. Kevorkian represented himself during the trial and Gorosh and Dwyer acted as his legal advisers. Morganroth said the help they gave was deficient. Skrzynski, who was unavailable for comment, insisted in previous interviews with The Detroit News that he "slammed on the brakes" before breaking a legal taboo against implying a defendant's guilt by pointing out he hasn't faced questioning. Skrzynski has said he sees nothing in that issue or others that will free Kevorkian. Assistant Prosecutor Anica Letica, who will argue the case against Morganroth, said Kevorkian does not have a right to a new trial. "He knew exactly what he was doing. The Michigan Supreme Court told him if you do this act you are going to be guilty of murder; and he did it. We charged him, and the jury followed the law and convicted him," she said. Morganroth said he was shocked the Court of Appeals waited so long to hear the appeal. Typically, he said, cases before the court are heard and decided in 16 months.
Kevorkian will become eligible for parole in May 2007.

Kevorkian to stay in prison 26/06/2001, © http://detnews.com

Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian has lost in his bid to have a federal judge let him out of prison while appealing the videotaped death of one of his patients. U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman rejected the unusual request, saying "delay in hearing an appeal, in and of itself, does not require the federal courts to intervene."
Frustrated that the Michigan Court of Appeals has not scheduled a hearing on his appeal more than two years after his conviction, Kevorkian sought to have Borman order him released on bond. Kevorkian's lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, argued that the Court of Appeals never explained why it kept Kevorkian in prison rather than allow him out on bond. An Oakland County prosecutor said the appeals court didn't have to explain itself: That court merely upheld an earlier ruling.
Then-Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper imprisoned Kevorkian, noting that he refused to abide by the law. Kevorkian now maintains that he would not aid patient deaths if released.
"We've focused on the state case all along. We just can't get anyone else to," said Morganroth, who added that he will appeal Friday's ruling by Borman.
A day after Borman's afternoon ruling, prison officials transferred Kevorkian into a more restrictive, maximum-security prison cell in Jackson, Morganroth said. Kevorkian suffers from high blood pressure and cracked two ribs in a fall.
Unless released on bond or appeal, Kevorkian must remain jailed until at least 2007.

Kevorkian moved to another prison 25/06/2001, © http://www.freep.com

Assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian and hundreds of other inmates have been temporarily relocated to another Jackson prison because of renovations. The move places the retired pathologist in a similarly sized single cell in the nearby State Prison of Southern Michigan. Kevorkian has been housed in the Egeler Correctional Facility. A Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Matt said Kevorkian was one of 489 prisoners that moved to the State Prison from Egeler. It was not known how long Kevorkian would stay at the State Prison, he added.

The State Appeals Court refused to allow ABC to interview Jack Kevorkian June 2001

The Appeals Court refused to order a prison to allow ABC-TV to conduct an on-camera interview with Jack Kevorkian, saying corrections officials should have discretion over inmates' interviews.
The state Department of Corrections last year turned down a request from ABC's Barbara Walters to interview the assisted - suicide advocate for the newsmagazine "20/20." The request called for Walters and 10 other people to be admitted to the prison for nine hours, department spokesman Matt Davis said.
A county judge last year ordered the department to allow the interview, but the Michigan Court of Appeals later blocked the network's request. This ruling upholds the department's right to use its discretion in granting inmate interviews.

Davis said allowing cameras in prisons could present security problems and other complications. Davis said the Department of Corrections has offered ABC access to Kevorkian for a one-on-one, off-camera interview. ABC, backed by several news organizations, argued the restrictions violate the First Amendment, which protects freedom of the press.
Kevorkian doesn't have strong opinions about ABC's request, but would be willing to be interviewed, said his attorney, Mayer Morganroth.
"I'm trying to figure how it would disrupt anything," Morganroth said. "It looks like almost every week, on '60 Minutes' or '20/20,' someone's on camera in a prison, and I haven't heard once of any disruption."
Cameron Evans, an attorney representing ABC, said he was disappointed but had not spoken with his client and could not comment further.