Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 17, 1993 TAG: 9305170242
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
A 54-year-old man committed suicide in Kevorkian's presence at a real estate office by breathing carbon monoxide through a mask, said Kevorkian's attorney, Geoffrey Fieger. Police said he was 44.
Ron Mansur, who suffered from lung and bone cancer, was the 16th person to die in Kevorkian's presence.
Kevorkian was arrested and released into his attorney's custody, police said. He wasn't immediately charged.
"There's no way they can find any jury that will convict him. It's not a crime to be present when someone commits suicide," Fieger said.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor George Ward said prosecutors were awaiting word from police before deciding whether to prosecute Kevorkian under the new law against assisted suicide.
"Dr. Kevorkian proceeds at his own risk or own peril in Wayne County," Ward told WWJ-AM radio.
Before Sunday, Kevorkian had assisted in 15 suicides since June 1990. The last two occurred Feb. 18. A week later, Gov. John Engler signed legislation making it a felony punishable by up to four years in prison to assist in a suicide.
Kevorkian had vowed to ignore the law, but later said he would wait until a constitutional challenge was decided before helping another person die.
Fieger did not know why Kevorkian went ahead with Mansur's suicide, but the judge hearing the case had been expected to rule by last Friday.
"Knowing Jack, he cares about suffering people and believes suffering people have the right to decide their own destinies," Fieger said.
In a departure from earlier suicides, none of Kevorkian's assistants were present, Fieger said.
Kevorkian, 64, a retired pathologist, was charged with murder in his first three assisted suicides. But charges were dropped because Michigan had no law against the practice.
Fieger said he did not know how long Kevorkian had been counseling Mansur, or whether Kevorkian had supplied the gas and apparatus used in his death.
The suicide was reported to the medical examiner's office before Kevorkian left, investigator Allen Brandeau said.
Kevorkian and Fieger left the building about two hours later and went to police headquarters to be questioned by homicide investigators, said Officer Rhoda Virgil-Madison.
Telephone numbers for Mansur and his mother were unpublished.
Monica Arnold, who bought her home from Ford Mansur Co. where Mansur died, said he had been working there with his mother for about a year and a half. She knew he was sick, but "I never thought he'd do anything like this."
California suspended Kevorkian's license on April 27, meaning he cannot practice anywhere in the United States. His license to practice in Michigan was suspended in 1991.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB