Patients' Kin Back Kevorkian
A day after assisted-suicide crusader Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced for the second-degree murder of Thomas Youk, the deceased's widow and brother spoke out against the ruling.
Melody Youk, Thomas' wife, told CBS This Morning Senior Correspondent Hattie Kauffman Wednesday that her first thoughts upon hearing Kevorkian would spend 10 to 25 years in prison, were of "disbelief, that it would be such a harsh sentence, given the fact that my husband had really just a short time yet to live and Dr. Kevorkian's advanced age -- and he's quite frail -- I thought it was astounding that they would give him such a long sentence."
Kevorkian videotaped the death of Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, as he injected him with a lethal cocktail of chemicals on Sept. 17. The videotape was later broadcast on CBS's 60 Minutes.
Judge Jessica Cooper also sentenced Kevorkian, who acted as his own lawyer in the case, to three to seven years for delivery of a controlled substance. The sentences will run concurrently, and Kevorkian will be eligible for parole after six years and eight months, a prosecutor said. Kevorkian, who turns 71 next month, could have gotten life in prison.
"You had the audacity to go on national television, show the world what you did and dare the legal system to stop you," said Judge Cooper. "Well, sir, consider yourself stopped."
At the sentencing hearing Tuesday, Melody and Youk's brother, Terry asked the judge for mercy. They challenged the conditions placed upon the court case: they were not allowed to testify, nor were the details of Youk's condition allowed to be heard in court.
 |
| Melody Youk (CBS) |
"Certainly, they had a number of acquittals previously when pain and suffering was an issue, but as to his intent, this was not a murder," Mrs. Youk said. "So I was very disturbed to feel that jury had no opportunity to hear all of the information that we really had."
At the time of his death, Youk, 52, was confined to a wheelchair, had a feeding tube installed in his stomach, and was afraid of choking on his own saliva. Mrs. Youk told the judge Tuesday that her husband was "grateful for the doctor's assistance to relieve his suffering."
Medical examiners considered the death suspicious. But they had little to go on until Kevorkian sent the videotape to 60 Minutes. The tape and the show's interview with retired pathologist Kevorkian were the prosecution's main evidence.
It was the first murder trial for the 70-year-old Kevorkian, who says he has been involved in 130 deaths since 1990, and the first time he was found guilty of taking part in a death. His prvious trials, all on assisted-suicide charges, resulted in three acquittals and a mistrial.
In past cases, Kevorkian said his patients used his homemade devices to start the flow of carbon monoxide or intravenous chemicals that caused their death. In Youk's case, Kevorkian administered the injection.
Terry Youk said he himself wrote the letter to Kevorkian asking for help on behalf of your brother. In a statement to the judge, he questioned why he wasn't named an accomplice in what was considered a murder case.
"If you follow the logic of their law, you have to come to that conclusion," he said Wednesday. "One of the things that we want to talk about is that this law shouldn't be used for this kind of a procedure...It doesn't address all of the issues that surround this kind of a procedure and we need to have a new category to look at euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide."
Kevorkian attorney Mayer Morganroth said Wednesday he planned to appeal the judge's decision.
Kevorkian told The Oakland Press of Pontiac that he will begin a hunger strike immediately.
"I know they are going to force-feed me, but my captivity is still enslavement, and I am not going to go along with it," he said.
The state on Monday changed its policy regarding force-feeding of prisoners, saying it is prohibited by court order from doing so. Morganroth refused Wednesday to confirm whether his client was eating.
Opponents of Kevorkian said the sentence was long overdue. Members of Not Dead Yet, a disabled rights group, celebrated the end of what one called Kevorkian's "killing spree."
"Jack Kevorkian has been killing members of the disabled community for years and has been getting away with it," said Cal Montgomery. "I hope this is the end of the euthanasia movement."