By DPA
Washington : Jack Kevorkian, the pathologist known as "Dr Death" for his work in assisting 130 people in committing suicide, was released from jail Friday after serving eight years at a Michigan prison for one of the cases.
In broadcast footage of his release, Kevorkian, dressed in a light blue sweater over a blue shirt and tie, took his finger and traced the huge grin on his face outside the prison in Coldwater, Michigan.
But he had little to say. Was he glad to be out of jail, a reporter asked?
"Oh sure, after eight years, yeah," he said. "It was wonderful …one of the high points in life … eight years in jail."
Kevorkian, 79, whose good behaviour and reported illness spared him from serving the full length of his 10-to-25 year sentence, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of a 52-year-old Michigan man.
In that case, Kevorkian documented the death on video and allowed it to be broadcast on television.
According to a local Michigan broadcaster, Local 5, Kevorkian's lawyer said the early release decision was made because the physician is fatally ill. He is suffering from diabetes, Hepatitis C, high blood pressure and hardening of the brain arteries, the broadcaster reported.
Kevorkian has promised he won't directly assist in suicides any more, but will spend his time lobbying to make assisted suicide legal.
The Michigan Catholic Conference earlier this week condemned Kevorkian's intention to work for new laws and said it would mobilise public opposition, as it did to defeat a 1998 ballot initiative.
"Assisted suicide represents an affront to the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity," the conference president, Sister Monica Kostielney, said in a statement.