WATERFORD, Mich. (Court TV) — Although it is a almost a foregone conclusion that he will face trial for his nationally televised assisted suicide, Dr. Jack Kevorkian will challenge prosecutors' first-degree murder charge Wednesday in a preliminary hearing.

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

A national audience saw Kevorkian challenge prosecutors to charge him because he wanted to settle the ongoing debate over euthanasia. According to Kevorkian, Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's Disease, died Sept. 17, approximately three weeks after Michigan enacted a law making assisted suicide a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

At the hearing, prosecutors will need to present only minimal evidence to persuade a judge to order a trial for Kevorkian. However, Kevorkian, who is representing himself and will be advised by constitutional law professor Robert Sedler and attorney David Gorosh (who officially represented Kevorkian for five days before he decided to represent himself), is expected challenge the accuracy of the charges.

He is expected to argue that prosecutors cannot charge him with both first-degree murder and assisted suicide because the charges contradict each other. Kevorkian may also challenge the delivery of a controlled substance charge, contending that the state legislature intended to apply that charge to drug traffickers.

Prosecutors may claim that Kevorkian displayed premeditation when he videotaped Youk's death, challenged prosecutors to settle the euthanasia debate, and injected poison into Youk's arm. They maintain Youk's consent is not a viable defense.

Since his arraignment, Kevorkian has been free on $750,000 bond with the promise that he not participate in any assisted suicides. Fearing more Kevorkian assisted suicides, Oakland County prosecutor David Gorcyca had wanted him jailed without bond. But Kevorkian said that he would comply with the court order, telling the judge that "there won't be a parking ticket."

Although Kevorkian has acknowledged participating in over 100 assisted suicides since 1990, Youk's death was the first time he directly administered a fatal drug. 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.

Following the "60 Minutes" broadcast, Thomas Youk's relatives hailed Kevorkian as a humanitarian, not a murderer. According to his family, Youk was losing a terrible battle to Lou Gehrig's disease and at times was unable to breathe and swallow properly. Youk, they said, would often choke on his saliva. Youk's relatives insisted that the Sept. 17 assisted suicide was the only option and were grateful his suffering ended.

However, Michigan prosecutors were not impressed, saying that Kevorkian chose the wrong venue for a mercy-killing debate and was only interested in attracting attention.

"What disturbed me most about the tape was the total lack of compassion shown in the last moments of a terminally-ill man's life," Oakland County prosecutor Gorcyca said. "What I saw was a nonchalant, callous, business-like approach not to ease a man's suffering but to satisfy an attention-crazed ego. Mr. Kevorkian would have been better off submitting that tape to the prosecutor's office."

A retired pathologist, Kevorkian, 70, has been acquitted in three out of the four trials involving his assisted suicides. The fourth ended in a mistrial. If convicted of first-degree murder in Youk's death, Kevorkian could face life in prison without parole. Kevorkian has already threatened to starve himself to death in prison if he is convicted.

—Bryan Robinson

Court TV's Mark Cursi contributed to this report.