Kevorkian Must Be Tried for 2 Deaths in Early ‘90s, Judge Says

Jack Kevorkian must face trial in connection with two deaths he attended early in his crusade for physician-assisted suicide, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Oakland County Circuit Judge David F. Breck denied a motion by Kevorkian attorney Geoffrey Fieger to dismiss charges in the deaths of Marjorie Wantz and Sherry Miller.

Fieger had sought to have the charges dropped, saying the prosecution “appears to be making up this law.”

Breck said a trial could proceed because the state Supreme Court ruled last year that assisted suicide could be prosecuted under common law.

Wantz and Miller, the second and third people to die in Kevorkian’s presence, died in 1991. He has been present at 26 deaths since 1990.

Miller, 48, who had multiple sclerosis, died after inhaling carbon monoxide through a mask. Wantz, 58, who had chronic pelvic pain, died after using a device that injected lethal drugs into her system.

If convicted, Kevorkian faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Kevorkian faces a separate assisted-suicide trial in the 1993 deaths of Merian Frederick and Ali Kahlili. Oakland County Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper has set a Feb. 12 trial date.

An assisted-suicide law passed in the Legislature specifically to stop Kevorkian took effect in February 1993 and expired in November 1994.