Kevorkian convicted in confrontation with police

A jury Wednesday convicted Dr. Jack Kevorkian of two misdemeanor charges for a confrontation with police outside a hospital where he was dropping off a body. A Kevorkian associate was acquitted.

This is the first time Kevorkian has ever been convicted of a crime, said his lawyer, Michael A. Schwartz.Royal Oak District Judge Daniel Sawicki immediately sentenced Kevorkian to pay a $700 fine and $200 in court costs. If he does not pay the fine, Kevorkian will serve 60 days in jail, the judge said.

After two days of deliberations, the jury convicted Kevorkian of interfering with police and resisting arrest. It acquitted his associate, Dr. Georges Reding, of the same charges.

The verdict came one day after longtime Kevorkian lawyer Geoffrey Fieger lost his Democratic bid for Michigan governor, and voters also rejected a measure that would have made Michigan the second state with legalized physician-assisted suicide.

In the past, Kevorkian has been acquitted in three Detroit-area trials covering five assisted suicide deaths. A fourth trial in June in Ionia County resulted in a mistrial.

Kevorkian and Reding were charged in a May 7 confrontation outside William Beaumont Hospital, where two officers were impounding Kevorkian's car.

The defendants were dropping off the body of Matt Johnson, 26, a quadriplegic from Aptos, Calif., when they were arrested.

"This case is about two defendants who thought they were above the law and out of control," Royal Oak Assistant City Attorney Jim Marcinkowski told the jurors in closing arguments Tuesday. The trial began last week.

Marcinkowski said the officers were justified in questioning Kevorkian and impounding his car on the basis of seeing a body inside.

Schwartz said the case was an effort by police to cover up their beating of his client.

"They felt they were in trouble because they roughed up Dr. Kevorkian," he said in his closing argument.

Kevorkian, 70, did not attend the trial but did enter Sawicki's court Tuesday afternoon.