|
MICHIGAN---The attorney for "Dr. Death" is asking Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to grant a pardon and/or commutation of sentence for his client to allow him to "die with some dignity by being free".
Attorney Mayer Morganroth represents Jack Kevorkian, 77, who is serving 10 to 25 years for second degree murder in an assisted suicide which was televised on "60 Minutes".
"Dr. Jack has served more than six and a half years in prison for an
offense that not one other doctor in the entire United States has ever spent
one day in prison for," Morganroth said.
Morganroth filed application asking the Michigan Parole Board to
immediately forward the request to the governor who has the ultimate say in
the matter.
Kevorkian is scheduled for release in June of 2007, a date, Morganroth
says, Kevorkian may never see.
"The man is in dire shape," Morganroth explained. " Prison has
deteriorated him almost to the point of no return. Jack is suffering from
dangerously high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, temporal arteritis,
peripheral arthritis, adrenal insufficiency, chronic pulmonary obstruction
disease and cataracts. On top of all that, his Hepatitis C (which Jack
contracted in Vietnam testing transfusions given to American soldier) is
sapping him of what little energy he has left."
Morganroth said a recent MSNBC national poll showed that 88 percent of the
people that participated believe Kevorkian should be freed. "It would be a
most compassionate act for Governor Granholm to order Jack's release,"
Morganroth said " especially during the holiday season."
According to Morganroth, Kevorkian is so frail that simply walking is
dangerous. "He's fallen twice, fracturing two ribs and injuring his wrist,"
Morganroth said. "Kevorkian also suffers from diplopia, vertigo, dysphasgia,
headaches, and osteoporosis."
"Look, Jack is not a ogre. He's a doctor who has helped a lot of needy
people over the years. The courts said he made a mistake, so be it, he's paid
for that mistake with six and a half years of his life in prison. He's 77
years-old now, and it's time to let the man die with some dignity by being
free."
The Governor has said in the past that she wouldn't consider a pardon. The parole board has 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.
In a recent interview, Kevorkian told MSNBC that if he is released he'll campaign to legalize assisted suicide but he would not "perform that act again when I get out" or encourage other doctors to do so. He said that he would use legal and legislative means to change the law to have other states join Oregon, the only state currently where assisted suicide is legal. "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", Kervorkian said.
11-19-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
|
