Video Evidence in Court
Kevorkian
"Dr. Jack Kevorkian arrived at the police station Wednesday [Nov. 25, 1998] after getting what he wanted: a first degree murder charge for his nationally televised euthanizing of a terminally ill man" (Jim Suhr, Associated Press).
There are three issues concerning video technology that this event brings up. First, video is used as evidence to force a trial. Second, video is used in order to gain publicity for the issue and the trial. And finally, this particular video evidence could easily cause jurors to not find the defendant guilty and therefore set a precedant or at least a belief in the defendant's mind that he has won.
Kevorkian videotaped Thomas Youk when he was being injected with a fatal dose of potassium chloride in order to force a trial on euthanasia. Parts of the video were broadcast on the CBS show "60 Minutes." The show aired more than a month after Youk's death, although Kevorkian was clearly part of the death and was not charged.
On "60 Minutes," Kevorkian tells Mike Wallace, "it is the first time he is admitting to killing a patient himself. He said he wants authorities to prosecute him for euthanasia" (deathnet). Kevorkian says this was his first euthanasia (he pushed the button, rather than the patient in an assisted suicide), although there are no videotapes of any of the previous assisted suicides to confirm this.
"CBS said Kevorkian told Wallace that he wants to force a trial on euthanasia charges in the hope that it would fail and set a legal precedent" (deathnet).
"They must charge me. Because if they do not, that means they don't think it was a crime," Kevorkian said on "60 Minutes" (AP).
