Kevorkian’s Prosecutor Threatens to Ask Mistrial

IONIA, Mich. — The prosecutor in Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s latest assisted-suicide trial threatened Wednesday to ask for a mistrial after the defense accused him of harassing witnesses and altering evidence.

Prosecutor Ray Voet said the jury may not be able to render a fair verdict after defense attorney Geoffrey Fieger, in opening statements, accused Voet of running a “witch hunt” and having a “vendetta” against Kevorkian.

Shifting between whispers and shouts, Fieger told jurors that Voet had harassed the family of Loretta Peabody, seeking blood samples from relatives while the prosecutor investigated her death last fall at the age of 54.

Fieger also accused Voet of altering evidence after Peabody’s death certificate was changed last week.

“You’ve got a prosecutor who’s taken the law in his own hands,” Fieger said.

Voet acknowledged outside court that the cause of Peabody’s death is no longer listed as natural, although the county medical examiner never examined the body. There was no autopsy, and her remains were cremated.

Voet said he feared Fieger’s remarks may have tainted the jurors, even though Judge Charles Miel ruled some of them out of bounds.

“The field has been blown wide open,” Voet said. “That was the most outrageous, illegal opening statement I’ve seen in my life.”

In his first trial outside the Detroit area, where he’s been acquitted three times, Kevorkian is accused of assisting the suicide of Peabody on Aug. 30 and practicing medicine without a license. Both charges carry five year prison sentences.