Sunday, November 17, 2013

People v. Kevorkian case brief

People v. Kevorkian case brief summary
527 N.W.2d 714 (1994)


CASE SYNOPSIS
The court of appeals (Michigan) entered an order concluding that an assisted suicide statute,Mich. Comp. Laws § 752.1027, under which defendants were charged was enacted in violation of Mich. Constitutional art. IV, § 24. The prosecution appealed. One defendant filed a cross-appeal with regard to a federal constitutional issue.

CASE FACTS
The prosecution appealed the court of appeals' determination that an assisted suicide statute under which defendants were charged was enacted in violation of Mich. Constitutional 1963, art. IV, § 24.

DISCUSSION

  • The court held: 
  • (1) the assisted suicide statute embraced only one object and was thus validly enacted, 
  • (2) the statute was not enacted in violation of the Change in Purpose clause of the state constitution, 
  • (3) the United States Supreme Court would not find a liberty interest in suicide, let alone assisted suicide, that was protected by the Due Process Clause of U.S. Constitutional Amendment XIV, 
  • (4) the principles that guided the analysis of substantive due process did not support the recognition of a right to commit suicide, 
  • (5) it was incorrect to conclude on the basis of the absence of criminal penalties for an act of suicide itself that there was a constitutional right to commit suicide, 
  • (6) there was no fundamental right to commit suicide that was protected by the Due Process Clause.

CONCLUSION
The court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals with regard to the claimed state constitutional violation and remanded the case to the circuit court.

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