
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 10, 1993                   TAG: 9309100162
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Short

DETROIT JUDGE ORDERS KEVORKIAN TO STAND TRIAL

More than three years after he shocked the nation by helping a 54-year-old woman to kill herself, Jack Kevorkian was ordered Thursday to stand trial on a criminal charge stemming from the most recent of 17 assisted suicides in which he has participated.

The ruling by Detroit District Judge Willie Lipscomb was a milestone in Kevorkian's battle with Michigan authorities, setting the stage for the first jury trial of the retired pathologist who has become known as "Dr. Death." Arraignment was set for Sept. 24.

Last month, Wayne County Prosecutor John O'Hair charged Kevorkian, 65, with violation of Michigan's new law banning assisted suicide, which carries a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment and a $2,000 fine. Under Michigan law, Lipscomb, acting much like a grand jury, Thursday found "probable cause" to believe that Kevorkian committed the crime. - The Washington Post

by CNB