Kevorkian: Jail reform is his new cause

The Detroit News
Monday, October 08, 2007

By Mike Martindale

ROYAL OAK — Jack Kevorkian is setting aside his crusade for assisted
suicide in favor of prison reform and civil rights.

Four months after his release from prison, Kevorkian — either a
murderer or an advocate for patient rights, depending upon one’s
viewpoint — says he’s healthier now and has no plans to go away quietly.

"I feel good now and have some things to do," said Kevorkian, wearing a
light jacket and white golf hat on a recent visit to the Royal Oak
Farmers Market. "I have a couple issues bigger than euthanasia, both
controversial, that I’d like to get out there if they let me."

Those issues are America’s prisons system, which he says is punitive and
unproductive, and the little-discussed Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Bill
of Rights, which says rights not mentioned in the document cannot be
denied simply because they aren’t mentioned. Kevorkian says it’s a
civil-rights issue that could solve innumerable controversies in
American society, including abortion and euthanasia.

Kevorkian, 79, was released from prison June 1 after serving eight years
of a second-degree murder sentence for assisting in the 1998 death of
Tomas Youk, who was in the final stages of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The
retired pathologist, whose fascination with death earned him the moniker
"Dr. Death," has moved into an apartment here, near where he began
shaking up the medical and legal establishments 17 years ago with his
suicide machine.

Kevorkian plans to hit the public speaking circuit to air his views. He
had agreed to give his first speech this Thursday at the University of
Florida, but the event was postponed until Jan. 15. The school wants to
review its security procedures after an incident in which a student was
shot by a Taser fired by campus police during a Sept. 17 appearance by
U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). Kevorkian says he will be paid $50,000
for his appearance.

A justice system like Europe

Kevorkian maintains there are better ways to deal with society’s
criminals than putting them all behind bars. He argues the current
justice system is based on "justice as retribution rather than justice
as reconciliation" and favors a "restorative justice" approach proposed
by Dutch jurist Herman Bianchi.

The program is based on a European system in which victims and
defendants would sit down in a church or monastery where the person
responsible could not be touched and would work out a form of mediation
with the victim, including payment for crimes. Kevorkian said he
believes this compensatory justice is preferable to warehousing
criminals in prisons and could be helpful in prison reform.

"Prisoners are worse off than slaves," Kevorkian said. "At least slaves
were able to have families."

Kevorkian also wants to lecture on the Ninth Amendment, which reads:
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

"If it (Ninth Amendment) would be applied the way it was supposed to, I
would never have been jailed or have gone to prison," Kevorkian said.
"And it would also put an end to any debate over so many issues:
Euthanasia and abortion, marriage between people of the same sex, any
type of discrimination or deprivation of the rights that we are all born
with … and it says those rights don’t have to be named in a document.
You’re born with them."

"The U.S. Supreme Court has never taken it up," said Kevorkian’s
attorney and friend, Mayer Morganroth.

He’s not first to question 9th

The man who put Kevorkian behind bars, assistant Oakland County
prosecuting attorney John Skrzynski, said Kevorkian has every right to
express his opinions but emphasized that people should be mindful of
Kevorkian’s expertise — or lack thereof.

"He can be an advocate for the legalization of assisted suicide but he
better not get involved in it," said Skrzynski, who won a conviction
against Kevorkian after two acquittals in other cases. "As far as the
Ninth Amendment he wants to talk about the law as if he is an expert,
but the public should know he’s not a lawyer — as he proved during his
trial.

"Now, discussing prison, I guess he has some expertise there."

Brian C. Kalt, a constitutional law professor at Michigan State
University, said the vagueness of the Ninth Amendment leaves it subject
to legal debate.

"It essentially says our rights are not limited by what’s in the Bill of
Rights," Kalt said. "But it doesn’t define those other rights. Kevorkian
isn’t the first to raise this question and the Supreme Court usually
decides unspecified rights, like the right to privacy, on due process
provided by the 14th Amendment, which says you can’t be deprived of
life, liberty or property without due process, like court."

He has public’s attention

Morganroth said despite being out of the spotlight for nearly a decade,
the public remains very interested in Kevorkian.

"People just come up and say hello, it’s always that way," Morganroth
said. "In seconds, people surround him. They want to hear what he has to
say. He’s a hero to them."

Nibbling on a banana nut muffin, Kevorkian said his days have been
"pretty dull" since he was paroled from prison. His diabetes and
hepatitis are under control. He rises early, takes walks — usually to a
public library — and lives a quiet, rather solitary existence. He has
no plans to renew an expired driver’s license.

He meets monthly with his parole officer and keeps in touch with a few
close friends. He is constantly recognized.

"Good to see you, Doctor," said Barry Schmidt, 59, of Berkley, offering
a handshake. "I’m in your corner all the way."

Schmidt later said he felt it was a "shame" Kevorkian served a day
behind bars. "I think he was humanely helping people out with the last
moments of their lives," Schmidt said. "He’s a great man and certainly
paid the price."

Kevorkian said he believed citizens, like one who disrupted Kerry’s
lecture in Florida, could be planted at one of his own engagements to
"target" him. Or worse.

"What are you going to do?" he said. "You say things and if you rile the
tyrants, they take care of you. I wasn’t afraid to go to prison. What do
you do when they know you don’t fear them? Have you judged insane and
tossed in a hospital? Assassination? What happened to Martin Luther
King? How was he silenced?

"You make the choice and live with it."

You can reach Mike Martindale at (248) 647-7226 or mmartindale@detnews.com

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