People v. Kevorkian

Supreme Court of Michigan · 1994 · Criminal Law

527 N.W.2d 714 (1994)

Updated August 1, 2026

Criminal Lawcausationassisted suicidemurderdirect and natural resultcommon-law felonysaving clausedue process

Facts

After Michigan enacted an assisted-suicide statute, plaintiffs in a declaratory action challenged the statute, and Kevorkian was separately charged under the statute in Wayne and Oakland Counties for assisting suicides. In a separate pre-statute Oakland County case, Kevorkian was charged with murder after allegedly helping Sherry Miller and Marjorie Wantz end their lives. The evidence showed Kevorkian supplied and set up lethal mechanisms, including a suicide machine and carbon monoxide apparatus, and the women then activated the fatal process themselves. Lower courts split on whether the statute was constitutional and whether pre-statute conduct could be prosecuted as murder.

Issue

Whether Michigan's assisted-suicide statute was validly enacted and constitutional, and in the pre-statute case whether a person who intentionally provides the means by which another commits suicide may be charged with murder. More specifically, the court had to decide what causal connection is required before a suicide-related death supports a murder charge rather than only assisting-suicide liability.

Rule

The assisted-suicide statute was validly enacted and does not violate the Michigan Title-Object Clause, and the United States Constitution does not bar a state from criminalizing assistance in suicide. In a suicide-related homicide prosecution, a defendant may be bound over for murder only where there is probable cause to believe death was the direct and natural result of the defendant's act; where the defendant merely is involved in events leading up to death, such as providing the means, the proper charge is assisting in a suicide, prosecutable as a common-law felony under MCL 750.505 if no specific statute applies.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In Grand Rapids, Nina Foster tells her friend Omar Reed that she wants to die. Omar buys a tank of helium, sets it in Nina’s apartment, explains how to open the valve, and leaves. Nina later opens the valve herself and dies.

If Michigan has no statute specifically prohibiting assisted suicide at the time, which charge is most consistent with the majority rule?

Explanation. The majority held that murder in a suicide-related death requires probable cause that death was the direct and natural result of the defendant’s act. Merely providing the means by which another kills herself supports assisting-suicide liability, not murder. Where no specific statute applies, that conduct may be prosecuted under the common-law saving clause.