who wad the lawyer for dr. kevorkian first case

Why was Dr Kevorkian charged with murder?

On November 25, 1998, Kevorkian was charged with second-degree murder and the delivery of a controlled substance (administering the lethal injection to Thomas Youk). Because Kevorkian's license to practice medicine had been revoked eight years previously, he was not legally allowed to possess the controlled substance.

What did John Kevorkian say in his sentencing speech?

After deliberating for 13 hours, a jury found him guilty on the lesser count of murder in the second-degree, according to The Daily News, who quoted him saying, “That proves how corrupt the society is, and how malevolent are those who run it." The 70-year-old Kevorkian was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison.

Who is John Kevorkian and what did he do?

In 1999, Kevorkian was arrested and tried for his direct role in a case of voluntary euthanasia. He was convicted of second-degree murder and served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence.

What did Kevorkian call the device?

Kevorkian called the device a " Thanatron " ("Death machine", from the Greek thanatos meaning "death"). Other people were assisted by a device which employed a gas mask fed by a canister of carbon monoxide, which Kevorkian called the " Mercitron " ("Mercy machine"). Criticism and Kevorkian's response

Who was Dr Kevorkian's attorney?

Geoffrey FiegerKevorkian's Attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, to Speak Tonight.

Who was Thomas Youk?

A Michigan jury last month found Dr Jack Kevorkian guilty of second degree murder in the death of Thomas Youk, a 52 year old resident of Detroit who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Dr Kevorkian made a videotape of himself injecting Mr Youk, who was paralysed, with lethal chemicals last September.

Who is Jeffrey Fieger?

In cases that made global headlines, Fieger is retained to represent Dr. Jack Kevorkian in six doctor-assisted suicide murder trials that put a spotlight on the issue. Geoffrey is a tireless advocate for the issue. Kevorkian was acquitted in all those trials when Geoffrey represented him.

Who was Dr Kevorkian first patient?

Janet AdkinsKevorkian videotaped interviews with patients, their families and their friends, and he videotaped the suicides, which he called medicides. On June 4, 1990, Janet Adkins, an Oregon teacher who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, was the first patient to avail herself of Dr. Kevorkian's assistance.

What did Kevorkian do with the bodies?

One of his favorite slogans was "dying is not a crime." After assisting in his patients' deaths, Kevorkian would leave their bodies at local emergency rooms. He was not, he told reporters, hastening death but rather ending suffering, an act that needed to be decriminalized.

Who was Janet Good?

Janet Good, a longtime civil rights worker who cooperated with Dr. Jack Kevorkian to help terminally ill people die, ended her own life yesterday in her home in suburban Detroit. She was 73.

Is Geoffrey Fieger still practicing law?

Geoffrey Nels Fieger (born December 23, 1950) is an American attorney based in Southfield, Michigan. Fieger is the senior partner at the law firm of Fieger, Fieger, Kenney & Harrington P.C., and is an occasional legal commentator for NBC and MSNBC....Geoffrey FiegerWebsiteOfficial website8 more rows

Is Jeffrey Fieger married?

Kathleen FiegerGeoffrey Fieger / Spouse

How old is the lawyer Geoffrey Fieger?

71 years (December 23, 1950)Geoffrey Fieger / Age

Who owns Kevorkian's van?

Zak BagansNevertheless, according to USA Today, Zak Bagans purchased the van—once referred to as Kevorkian's “Deathmobile”—for $32,500, and the Ghost Adventures host says he plans to use it in a future paranormal project. Dr.

What gas did Dr. Kevorkian use?

carbon monoxideDr. Jack Kevorkian provided the canister of carbon monoxide that a seriously ill woman used to kill herself at her home in this Detroit suburb on Friday, his lawyer has acknowledged.

How many deaths did Dr. Kevorkian assist in?

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the audacious Michigan pathologist dubbed "Dr. Death" for his role in assisting the suicides of more than 100 terminally ill people, died early Friday. Dr.

When did Jack Kevorkian go to trial?

The fifth trial of Jack Kevorkian began in March 1999 and, for the first time, he decided to represent himself. It was not a good idea.

What happened to Kevorkian?

In November of that year, he was arrested on charges of first-degree murder after CBS's “60 Minutes” aired a segment that showed him personally administering a lethal injection to Thomas Youk , a 52-year-old man with Lou Gehrig's disease.

How long was Kevorkian in jail?

The 70-year-old Kevorkian was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison.

What was the name of the device that Kevorkian created?

He created two devices, one he called a “Thanatron, ” which delivered a fatal combination of drugs through an IV, the other known as the “Mercitron,” which administered deadly carbon monoxide through a gas mask. Kevorkian later embarked on a PR campaign to spread his message.

Why did Kevorkian use carbon monoxide?

Over the following years Kevorkian assisted in myriad suicides, often using carbon monoxide, since he no longer had access to pharmaceuticals, due to his lack of a medical license. In 1994, Kevorkian went on trial for assisting in the suicide of Thomas Hyde, a 30-year-old man with Lou Gehrig's disease.

How long did it take for the jury to acquit Kevorkian?

After deliberating for nine hours, jurors acquitted him on all charges. Kevorkian was resolute in his mission following the first of his three acquittals: “Obviously, what are needed are guidelines on (assisted suicide), and that is the first priority to me,” he said, according to The New York Times.

Where did Jack Kevorkian grow up?

Murad “Jack” Kevorkian was born in 1928 and grew up in Pontiac, MI, the second of three children born to Armenian immigrants. His parents had come to America in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, fleeing the Armenian Genocide of 1915, according to ABC News. After graduating high school with honors, he attended the University of Michigan, ...

Why did Kevorkian go to prison?

Kevorkian was prepared to go to prison if it meant raising awareness of what he considered to be our nation’s backward, oppressive euthanasia laws. By the time of his trial, he had participated in more than 130 assisted suicides or, as in Youk’s case, mercy killings.

How long was Kevorkian sentenced to?

The jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, with a sentence of 10 to 25 years, rather than first-degree murder, which might have carried a life sentence. Kevorkian was given early release in 2007, after serving only eight years, in part because he himself was then terminally ill with Hepatitis C.

What machine did the Kevorkian use to kill himself?

In 1993, a man dying from bone and lung cancer used Kevorkian’s carbon monoxide machine to kill himself. A friend of the deceased told TIME, “I know that when he put that mask on his face he had his finger sticking up in the air to say screw you all for the laws that made me suffer like this.”.

Why was Thomas Youk convicted of murder?

Death” in a 1993 cover story, was convicted of murder for giving Youk a lethal injection to end his suffering from advanced Lou Gehrig’s ...

What was Jack Kevorkian charged with?

In Michigan, Jack Kevorkian was initially charged with violating the state statute, in addition to first-degree murder and delivering a controlled substance without a license. The assisted suicide charge was dropped, however, and he was eventually convicted of second degree murder and delivering a controlled substance without a license.

What did the Supreme Court decide in 1997?

On July 26, 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld decisions in New York and Washington state that criminalized assisted suicide. These decisions overturned rulings in the 2nd and 9th Circuit Courts of Appeal which struck down state statutes banning physician-assisted suicide. Those courts had found that the statutes, which prohibited doctors from prescribing lethal medication to competent, terminally ill adults, violated the 14th Amendment. In striking the appellate decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court found that there was no constitutional "right to die," but left it to individual states to enact legislation permitting or prohibiting physician- assisted suicide . (The full text of these decisions, plus reports and commentary, can be found at the Washinton Post web site.)

How many people were given drugs in Oregon in 1999?

As of April 1999, 23 patients were given drugs under the statute, and 15 of them used the drugs to commit suicide. A report released by the Oregon state Health Division reviewing the first year of the law's implementation found that the law was working well and had not been subject to abuse.

Who introduced the bill to revoke the license to prescribe federally controlled drugs from any doctor who participated in an assisted

However, in 1998, House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde and Senator Don Nickles introduced bills in the House and Senate which would revoke the licence to prescribe federally controlled drugs from any doctor who participated in an assisted suicide.

Can a doctor prescribe lethal medication in Oregon?

The Oregon statute, which went into effect in October 1997, provides that a doctor may prescribe, but not administer, a lethal dose of medication to a patient who has less than six months to live. Two doctors must agree that the patient is mentally competent and that the decision was voluntary.

What was the crime in the case of Kevorkian?

One month later, Kevorkian was charged with murder. The law made it a crime to “knowingly provide the physical means or participate in the act of suicide.”. But the law excluded acts when the “intent is to relieve pain.”. Geoffrey Fieger, Kevorkian’s brash and flamboyant defense lawyer, delivered the opening statement.

How long was Jack Kevorkian's trial?

The trial lasted just two days. Jack didn’t call a single witness. In his closing argument, he compared himself to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King—a champion for civil liberties. The jury found Kevorkian guilty of second-degree homicide.

What did Kevorkian believe?

Kevorkian had seen a lot of suffering in hospitals and nursing homes. And he believed that people with painful medical conditions should have the right to end their lives.

What was the goal of Kevorkian's machine?

The aim of his machine was to cause death. A humane, painless death. To accomplish the goal, Kevorkian would first open the saline drip. Then, the patient to whom the IV line was attached would flip a switch. That flip would start a flow of Seconal for 60 seconds. Enough to put the patient in a deep coma.

What did Kevorkian wear to the trial?

The notion of common law crime didn’t sit well with Kevorkian. To protest the dredging up of a law said to date back centuries, he wore colonial dress at the start of trial—a powdered wig, knee breeches, and black buckle shoes. On the witness stand he shouted, “There ain’t no law. I only recognize laws passed by the legislature, not made up by courts.”

What was Geoffrey Fieger's sole intent?

They ordered the trial judge to tell jurors that the state need not prove that Kevorkian’s “sole intent” was to cause death. Having a primary intent of ending suffering should not be enough to save him. But the jury saw it differently.

Where did Jack Kevorkian go to prison?

Kevorkian served his time in a prison in Coldwater, Michigan. In a 2004 interview with a reporter for the New York Times, Jack said that he regretted representing himself in his trial, a decision he attributed to his arrogance. In an MSNBC interview aired in 2005, Jack said that if he were freed from prison, he would no longer directly help people die. Instead, he would limit himself to campaigning to have the law changed.

What was Jack Kevorkian's invention called?

The Trials of Dr. Jack Kevorkian (1992-99) He called his invention “the thanatron.”. It was an inexpensive contraption. A jewelry chain, parts from an Erector Set, an old motor, an intravenous line, and three plastic bottles.

Who invented the thanatron?

Each of the three bottles connected to the IV line. The inventor of the thanatron was 60-year-old doctor named Jack Kevorkian. The aim of his machine was to cause death.