People v. Kevorkian case brief

 

• People v. Kevorkian- ∆ convicted of assisting in two suicides, contended that a person had a due process right to commit suicide; therefore, the state statute under which he was prosecuted was unconstitutional.
  • No due process right to suicide exists.
  • Court of Appeals remands b/c trial court did not have benefit in this guidance and strongly suggests that he didn’t participate in the final act.
  • In case at hand women were really sick, we can feel comfortable that they weren’t pressured, they really wanted to kill themselves
    • Would we think differently if the person was just really depressed?
  • Is the rule “Consent is no defense to homicide” problematic?
    • Case at hand is not homicide because it was not Kevorkian who did it…
      • But how does this reconcile Welansky or Acosta??? It can’t be the rule that you are guilty of homicide if you are the one who does the final act.
  • Did ∆ cause the death or did the two victims???