Pontiac, Michigan - Euthanasia campaigner Dr Jack Kevorkian was sentenced to 10-25 years yesterday for the televised "mercy killing" of a fatally-ill man.
Oakland Courtroom Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper also sentenced the 70-year-old retired pathologist to three to seven years in jail for delivering a controlled substance to a patient suffering from Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Shortly after the sentence, Dr Kevorkian was taken to jail but said he would appeal.
On March 26th, a jury of seven women and five men convicted him for giving a lethal drug injection to Thomas Youk, a Detroit man afflicted with the fatal muscle disorder. Dr Kevorkian brought the charges upon himself by videotaping Youk's death on September 17th, 1998, then supplying the tape to CBS-TV's 60 Minutes for national broadcast.
On the show, which aired in November, Kevorkian dared prosecutors to charge him, saying: "Either they go or I go."
The trial marked the first time that Kevorkian was charged with murder after having won acquittals and a mistrial in four previous prosecutions for assisted suicide.
"This trial was not about the political or moral correctness of euthanasia. It was all about you, sir," Judge Cooper said.
"You had the audacity to go on national television, show the world what you did and dare the legal system to stop you. Well, Sir, consider yourself stopped," the judge added.