Dr. Jack Kevorkian -- dubbed "Dr. Death" by the media -- may have seemed unstoppable in his campaign to assist the terminally ill patients he claims sought his help to end their lives. He made it through three acquittals and a mistrial in his quest to help at least 130 people commit suicide.
Pleading not guilty on all counts, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was arraigned on charges of first-degree murder, assisted suicide and delivery of a controlled substance for the assisted suicide of Thomas Youk and learned he will face trial in early March 1999.
A Michigan judge has granted prosecutors' request to drop the assisted suicide charge against Dr. Jack Kevorkian leaving only the murder charge intact for his upcoming trial.
Representing himself in his murder trial, Dr. Jack Kevorkian argued in his opening statement that he did not intend to kill Thomas Youk, but rather felt compelled to do so because his duty as a physician demanded it.
Confident that they have proven intent to kill, Michigan prosecutors rested their case in the murder trial of Dr. Jack Kevorkian after playing the videotape of Thomas Youk's death and calling the medical examiner and investigators in the case.
Confident that they have proven intent to kill, Michigan prosecutors rested their case after playing the videotape of Thomas Youk's death and calling the medical examiner and two investigating officers to the stand.
After three acquittals and a mistrial, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was found guilty of second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance for his role in the death of Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk.
A Michigan judge sentenced Dr. Jack Kevorkian to 10 to 25 years in prison for second degree murder and three to seven years for delivery of a controlled substance.
In a ruling anticipated by Dr. Jack Kevorkian and his appellate lawyers, the trial judge who sent the reputed "Dr. Death" to prison in April rejected his request for a new trial.
Calling him "libel proof," a Michigan appeals court Monday dismissed Dr. Jack Kevorkian's defamation suit against two medical groups that called him a killer in their literature.