Kevorkian Asks for Commutation or Pardon
Monday November 8, 2004 7:16 PM
By AMY F. BAILEY
Associated Press Writer
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – An attorney for Jack Kevorkian asked the state
parole board Monday to recommend that the assisted suicide advocate
be released from prison for health reasons.
Attorney Mayer Morganroth said Kevorkian has health problems including
high blood pressure, a hernia and arthritis, and the board should urge
Gov. Jennifer Granholm to either pardon him or commute his sentence.
Kevorkian’s blood pressure “has been extremely volatile in nature
and has risen to the danger level for a heart attack at times,”
Morganroth wrote in the request.
Kevorkian, 76, has been in prison 5 years and his health has worsened,
Morganroth said.
The request comes a week after U.S. Supreme Court justices decided
against hearing Kevorkian’s appeal of his second-degree murder
conviction for the 1998 poisoning of Thomas Youk.
Youk suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease and his death, which
Kevorkian called a mercy killing, was videotaped and shown on national
television.
Morganroth said Kevorkian would not assist in any more suicides if
he is released.
Russ Marlan, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections,
said the department had not yet received Kevorkian’s request. But
he said medical commutations are normally granted only for inmates
expected to live a year or less.
“We have plenty of prisoners that have cataracts and arthritis,
but that doesn’t mean they should be granted a commutation,” Marlan
said. “They’re only granted for offenders that have little chance of
surviving very much longer.”
The request for pardon or commutation is Kevorkian’s second. The
state parole board voted against his first request a year ago.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress