Kevorkian was convicted last month of second-degree murder for giving a lethal injection to a man with Lou Gehrig's disease and putting it on videotape to goad prosecutors into charging him.
Prosecutors will ask a judge to send the retired pathologist to prison for a minimum of 10 to 25 years. The maximum sentence is life.
Kevorkian's lawyers will tell Judge Jessica Cooper that the case shouldn't be treated as any other murder and doesn't require sending a 70-year-old man to prison.
The judge can go outside the state's sentencing guidelines for a "compelling" reason and let Kevorkian off with probation.
Kevorkian was found guilty March 26 in the death of 52-year-old Thomas Youk. Kevorkian taped Youk's death on Sept. 17 and gave the video to CBS' "60 Minutes," which aired the footage.
Kevorkian's previous trials, all on assisted-suicide charges, had resulted in three acquittals and one mistrial. He has admitted helping 130 people commit suicide; this was the first time he stood trial for murder.
In his "60 Minutes" interview, Kevorkian threatened a hunger strike if sent to prison - a claim he has not repeated. If he does start a hunger strike, prison policy calls for forced feeding.
Assisted-suicide advocates have said they were dismayed at Kevorkian's conviction.
But Ed Pierce, who led a failed effort to legalize assisted suicide in Michigan last year, said Kevorkian's tactics in recent years have not helped the cause.
"I think on the whole he's been a pioneer in bringing the issue to our attention. But I don't think he can go on like he's been doing in the past," Pierce said yesterday, adding that Kevorkian has been known to help people who weren't terminally ill, something most assisted-suicide advocates oppose.
04-13-99
| Previous Article | Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |