When Kevorkian wanted out of prison, his lawyer repeatedly pleaded for mercy because, he said, Kevorkian’s was so ill with hepatitis and other ailments that he was on the verge of death’s door. For example, in this Court TV report from 2004:The state parole board declined to commute Jack Kevorkian’s murder sentence or grant the assisted suicide advocate parole, saying his claims of ill health mirrored claims he had made just a year ago.
Or take this 2005 report about another Kevorkian release based on ill health:Jack Kevorkian’s attorney is asking Michigan’s governor and parole board for a third time to pardon the 77-year-old assisted-suicide advocate or commute his sentence. Kevorkian is eligible for parole in 2007, but attorney Mayer Morganroth says he might not live that long...”The man is in dire shape,” Morganroth said in a statement Saturday. “Prison has deteriorated him almost to the point of no return.”
But now that he is actually getting out, Kevorkian seems to have had a “miraculous” recovery. How else explain how a dying man who had reached the “point of no return” in 2005 is now, suddenly, well enough to join the speakers circuit? His going rate will be between $50,000-$100,000. Who says that crime doesn’t pay?
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
