Lawyer: Kevorkian May Die Before '07 Parole
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jack Kevorkian's attorney is asking Michigan's governor and parole board for a third time to pardon the 77-year-old assisted-suicide advocate or commute his sentence.
Kevorkian is eligible for parole in 2007, but attorney Mayer Morganroth says he might not live that long. Kevorkian suffers from a number of ailments, including high blood pressure, arthritis, cataracts, osteoporosis and Hepatitis C, he said.
"The man is in dire shape," Morganroth said in a statement Saturday. "Prison has deteriorated him almost to the point of no return."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said in the past that she won't consider pardoning Kevorkian. Two previous requests with parole board, in 2003 and 2004, were denied, Morganroth said.
Kevorkian is serving a 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder for giving a fatal injection of drugs to Thomas Youk in 1998, a death that was videotaped and shown on CBS' "60 Minutes."
Youk, 52, had Lou Gehrig's disease, and Kevorkian called his death a mercy killing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths, but has since promised not to assist in more suicides if he is released from prison.