PEOPLE v. KEVORKIAN

Docket Nos. 99591, 99674, 99752, 99758, 99759, (Calendar No. 1).

447 Mich. 436 (1994)

527 N.W.2d 714

PEOPLE v. KEVORKIAN HOBBINS v. ATTORNEY GENERAL

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Decided December 13, 1994.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, John D. O'Hair, Prosecuting Attorney, and Timothy A. Baughman, Chief, Research, Training and Appeals, for the people.

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Richard Thompson, Prosecuting Attorney, and Errol Shifman, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Richard Thompson, Prosecuting Attorney, Joyce F. Todd, Chief, Appellate Division, and Richard H. Browne, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.

Robert A. Sedler, Paul J. Denenfeld, Elizabeth Gleicher, and Eugene Feingold, for the plaintiffs in Hobbins.

Fieger, Fieger & Schwartz, P.C. (by Geoffrey N. Fieger, Pamela A. Hamway, and Michael Alan Schwartz), for the defendant.

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Deborah Anne Devine, Assistant Attorney General In Charge, and Thomas C. Nelson, Assistant Attorney General, for the defendant in Hobbins.

Amici Curiae:

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, John D. O'Hair, Prosecuting Attorney, and Timothy A. Baughman, Chief, Research, Training and Appeals, for the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.

Steven A. Transeth for Paul C. Hillegonds, Co-Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, Curtis Hertel, Co-Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, Dick Posthumus, Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate, and Arthur J. Miller, Jr., Minority Leader of the Michigan Senate.

Bodman, Longley & Dahling (by Joseph A. Sullivan and Martha B. Goodloe) for the Michigan Catholic Conference.

Joseph P. Zanglin, Paul Benjamin Linton, and Clarke D. Forsythe for Michigan State Senators and Representatives.

James W. Kraayeveld, Local Counsel, and James Bopp, Jr., Thomas J. Marzen, Daniel Avila, John Altomare, and Jane E.T. Brockmann, Co-Counsel, for the Michigan Handicapper Caucus and the Ethics and Advocacy Task Force of the Nursing Home Action Group.

Charles Kleinbrook, P.C. (by Charles Kleinbrook), and Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom (by James Bopp, Jr., and Richard E. Coleson) for the National Right to Life Committee, Inc.

Curcio & Martell (by Elizabeth A. Curcio and Marie E. Martell) for Right to Life of Michigan.

Butler & Modelski, P.C. (by Michael J. Modelski), and Wesley J. Smith, for International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force.

Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn (by John D. Pirich and Timothy Sawyer Knowlton), Kirk B. Johnson, David Orentlicher, Michael L. Ile, and Sidley & Austin (by Jack R. Bierig and Paul E. Kalb), for American Medical Association.

Camille Abood and J. Thomas Smith, Jr., for America 21, Family Values for the 21st Century.


MEMORANDUM OPINION.

These cases raise three issues with regard to the state's imposition of criminal responsibility on persons who assist others in committing suicide. Two questions are presented by the appeals in Docket Nos. 99591, 99752, 99758, and 99759: (1) whether the Michigan assisted suicide statute, MCL 752.1027; MSA 28.547(127), was enacted in violation of Const 1963, art 4, § 24; (2) whether the criminal provisions of MCL 752.1027; MSA 28.547(127) violate...

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