But the retired pathologist may not get that opportunity and faces a conviction of first-degree murder when he goes on trial March 22.

On Nov. 25, 1998, Michigan prosecutors charged Kevorkian with first-degree murder, criminally assisted suicide and delivery of a controlled substance after viewing unedited and edited tapes of Youk's death, which was televised Nov. 23 on CBS' "60 Minutes." Youk was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.

In both the unedited and edited versions of the tape, Kevorkian is shown having a weak and barely intelligible Youk sign consent forms for his assisted death. On the tape, Kevorkian injects muscle relaxant into Youk's arm to stop his breathing, and then injects potassium chloride to stop his heart.

According to Kevorkian in previous cases he had an apparatus that allowed the patient to administer lethal doses of gas or drugs. Like Kevorkian's previous patients, Youk initially thought he was going to inject himself with lethal doses. But instead Kevorkian administered the fatal "death potion" to Youk himself, inviting prosecutors to charge him with first-degree murder for the first time.

Youk died Sept. 17, approximately three weeks after Michigan enacted a law making assisted suicide a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. While he conceded that Youk could have operated the machine, Kevorkian said that he persuaded Youk to allow him to directly administer the fatal drug because it was more efficient and more humane. On the tape, he said he told Youk of his intent to use him to extend the national debate over assisted suicide to euthanasia.

But jurors may not hear any debate over the ethics of assisted suicide or the pain Youk endured while battling Lou Gehrig's disease. On March 11, just under two weeks before the start of jury selection, prosecutors dropped the assisted suicide charge against Kevorkian in an attempt to bar testimony about Youk's condition from trial. Two days before, Judge Jessica Cooper admitted testimony about Youk's pain and suffering, ruling that it was relevant to assisted suicide but irrelevant to murder.

Prosecutor John Skrzynski wanted Judge Cooper to bar that testimony, arguing that Kevorkian's defense would use the evidence to generate sympathy for Youk, manipulate jurors' emotions, and implicitly encourage jurors to condone the reputed "Dr. Death's" actions.

"This case is not about the right to die. It's about the right to kill," Skrzynski said at a March 3rd pretrial hearing. "[Kevorkian] admits it to Mike Wallace on the ['60 Minutes'] tape. He's saying ... look at this man, he's terminally ill and his life is not worth living anymore, he has a right to self-determination and he's consented. He's telling jurors consent is a defense, and it is not."

Prosecutors believe that dropping the assisted suicide charge will enable the trial to focus solely on the question of murder and whether Kevorkian intended to purposely kill Youk. They believe the videotape — and Kevorkian's own words — prove his motives and that he intentionally killed Youk. Kevorkian even suggests that Youk was initially hesitant about being used in his right to die crusade and that his motives may have been selfish.

"I'm fighting for need, for me," Kevorkian said on the tape. "I'm going to be 71 years old, and you don't know what'll happen when you get older. I would like to preserve my right to die the way I want to die, especially if I'm suffering."

Michigan prosecutors also believe the inability to use evidence regarding Youk's condition will hamper Kevorkian's defense. To gain acquittals in his client's three previous trials, Kevorkian's former attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, relied on emphasizing the patients' suffering and consent to the procedure and argued that his client only intended to relieve pain. But Kevorkian's current attorney, David Gorosh, has said that his client only intended to relieve Youk's pain, not kill him. Kevorkian's defense will seemingly have a difficult time presenting that theory without being able to mention Youk's illness.

Nonetheless, prosecutors may encounter problems presenting the videotape without referring to Youk's illness. To convict Kevorkian of first-degree murder, they must prove his motive — which apparently was the relieve Youk's suffering and to settle the debate over assisted suicide.

While prosecutors appear to have hampered Kevorkian's defense, they may have unintentionally outwitted themselves. Their success may depend largely on how well they can use the tape without giving Kevorkian's defense an advantage.

Kevorkian's lawyers, however, have attempted to get Youk's medical condition readmitted. On March 16, they filed a motion asking Judge Cooper to have jurors consider assisted suicide as a lesser related charge to murder and to admit Youk's pain and suffering. They said that Kevorkian has a legal right to present any defense theory as long as it is supported by sufficient evidence. The inability to present evidence about Youk's condition, the attorneys claimed, denies Kevorkian his right to present any defense.

But on Friday, Judge Cooper denied the defense's motion, ruling that assisted suicide is not a lesser related charge to the murder. Because she will not give a jury instruction on assisted suicide, jurors will have to choose murder or nothing. However, the defense contends second-degree murder is a necessary lesser included charge and that the jury is almost certain to be instructed on it.

It remains to be seen what part, if any, Youk's relatives will have at Kevorkian's trial. They do not support the prosecution and believe Kevorkian's treatment of Youk was an act of mercy.

"I don't consider it murder. I consider it humane," said Melody Youk, Thomas' widow. "I consider it the way things should be."

Kevorkian still faces the illegal delivery of a controlled substance charge. A murder conviction could mean a life sentence for Kevorkian, who has promised to starve himself in prison if that happens. Kevorkian has acknowledged participating in over 100 assisted suicides since 1990. Although he believes an acquittal will settle the controversy over euthanasia, it seems more likely that the debate will rage on long after the trial is over.

— Bryan Robinson