Ride For Life: Supreme Court refuses to hear Kevorkian case

The Associated Press State & Local Wire October 7, 2002, Monday, BC cycle SECTION: State and Regional; Washington Dateline LENGTH: 645 words BYLINE: By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -The Supreme Court, in its opening session, refused to hear the case of imprisioned Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Kevorkian has also unsuccessfully tried before to get the court involved in the issue of assisted suicide. He is serving a 10- to 25-year prison sentence for the injection death of a man with Lou Gehrig's disease.

The 1998 death of Thomas Youk was videotaped and shown on national television. Kevorkian has called it a "mercy killing," but a jury in Michigan convicted him of second-degree murder.

There were more than a thousand that justices refused to consider as they returned to work after a three-month break. The court only hears arguments in 80 or so cases each year - about 1 percent of the cases that make it to the high court.