A U.S. Federal Court of Appeal has denied assisted-suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian's request for a new trial. He has been in jail since 1999 after releasing a videotape of a suicide he assisted.
The court released its decision last Tuesday, upholding a decision by U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds in November. Kevorkian's “claims are all lacking in substantive merit and/or defeated by an unexcused procedural default,” the court wrote in its one-page, unsigned decision, as reported by the Detroit News.
Kevorkian's attorney, Meyer Morganroth, said he will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. “This was an unfair, outrageous trial,” Morganroth claimed.
Kevorkian, 76, is serving a term of 10 to 25 years for a second-degree murder conviction for killing Thomas Youk, who had Lou Gehrig's disease. He is eligible for parole in 2007, but could remain in prison until as long as 2019. Jack Kevorkian boasts of having helped over 130 people kill themselves. 60 Minutes aired the videotape of Kevorkian assisting Youk's suicide in 1998.
See also:
Study Finds 75% Of Kevorkian Victims Were Not Terminally Ill
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
