NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      DETROIT (CWNews.com) - A Michigan judge on Wednesday ordered assisted suicide activist Jack Kevorkian to stand trial in the death of a Michigan man broadcast on national television.

      District Court Judge Phyllis McMillen said there is sufficient evidence for Kevorkian to stand trial. Prosecutors had asked for him to be tried on charges of murder, assisting a suicide, and delivery of a controlled substance in the death of Thomas Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. The 52-year-old man died on September 17, but a videotape of Kevorkian administering a lethal injection to Youk was broadcast of the CBS news show "60 Minutes" on November 22.

      Kevorkian dared prosecutors to charge him after the show and prosecutors used the tape in the pre-trial hearing as evidence. "I think the main evidence is the one he provided to the whole country," assistant Oakland County prosecutor John Skrzynski said. If convicted of murder, Kevorkian could face a mandatory life sentence. The assisted suicide charge carries up to a five-year sentence; the controlled substance charge carries up to seven years in prison. He has acknowledged participating in the deaths of more than 130 people since 1990.