A suburban Detroit prosecutor has dropped all assisted suicide charges against Dr. Jack Kevorkian and two assistants. But a prosecutor in another country is not giving up.
The charges stemmed from 10 suicides last year and were filed by former Oakland County Prosecutor Richard Thompson against Kevorkian, psychologist Dr. Georges Reding and Neal Nicol.
The newly elected prosecutor, David Gorcyca, says his predecessor made a mistake and acted “in haste.” Voters picked Gorcyca after he pledged to stop prosecuting Kevorkian, who was acquitted by two Oakland County jury in 1994.
But the 68-year-old assisted suicide advocate is not off the hook. A western Michigan prosecutor says he will pursue similar charges against Kevorkian stemming from a woman’s suicide in Ionia, Michigan, last August.
Ionia County Prosecutor Ray Voet pressed charges after a grand jury indicated Kevorkian and Janet Good. The two are free on bond pending a circuit court hearing, which has not been scheduled.
The Ionia charges are assisting in a suicide –a five-year felony –practicing medicine without a license and two conspiracy counts. Kevorkian has obeyed a judge’s order to desist in suicide assistance pending trial.
Kevorkian acknowledges attending 45 suicides since 1990. In early January the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether Michigan and other states have the right to ban doctor-assisted suicide.
