Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992 TAG: 9202060046
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PONTIAC, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
SUICIDE-MACHINE INVENTOR CHARGED
Dr. Jack Kevorkian was arraigned on two murder charges Wednesday in the deaths of two women who used his suicide machines after saying they could no longer bear their chronic illnesses.Kevorkian's attorney predicted the charges would be dismissed. He noted that no change has been made in Michigan law since Kevorkian in 1990 helped an Alzheimer's patient inject herself with a fatal dose of drugs. A first-degree murder charge in that case was dismissed.
"There is no crime of assisting suicide in Michigan," Geoffrey Fieger told Oakland County Circuit Judge Richard Kuhn at a hearing. "Doctor Kevorkian assisted those two ladies. That is not a crime."
The new charges stem from the Oct. 23 deaths of Sherry Miller, 43, of Roseville and Marjorie Wantz, 58, of Sodus. They were found dead in a cabin north of Detroit, hooked to devices invented by Kevorkian, one of which provided an injection and the other a lethal gas.
Shortly before their deaths, the women made a video in which they described their pain and their wish to die.
Miller suffered from multiple sclerosis and Wantz from a chronic pelvic disease. Neither woman's illness was terminal.
A medical examiner ruled their deaths homicide, not suicide.
Kuhn set bail at $5,000 on each murder count and ordered Kevorkian not to assist in any more deaths. Kevorkian was released after posting the required 10 percent of bail.
The charges, which included one count of delivery of a controlled substance, were issued Monday by an Oakland County grand jury. They were kept secret until after Kevorkian's arrest Wednesday.
"Once the medical examiner ruled it was a homicide, after that we had no alternative" but to prosecute, county Prosecutor Richard Thompson said in announcing the indictments.
Kevorkian, 63, a retired pathologist, was arrested while walking near his Royal Oak home. He smiled when he was led into court in handcuffs.
Fieger told reporters he had asked permission to surrender Kevorkian within 24 hours if given notice by the judge or prosecutor.
Instead, he said, prosecutors "did this in secret so they could arrest Doctor Kevorkian and put him in handcuffs."
"These are malevolent, sick people who play with the people's money like they are cops - terminator cops," Fieger said outside the courtroom.
If convicted of first-degree murder under the open-murder charge, Kevorkian could face a mandatory penalty of life imprisonment without parole. The drug charge carries a top sentence of two years' imprisonment.