KEVORKIAN ACQUITTED IN SUICIDE CASES.

Byline: The New York Times

Dr. Jack Kevorkian was found not guilty Tuesday of violating Michigan common law against assisted suicide, closing two cases that his lawyers said were by far the most significant of the five acquittals he has won at three trials.

``The jury saved me,'' said Kevorkian, who appeared deeply moved.

Just before the Oakland County Circuit Court jury announced its verdict, Kevorkian, a retired pathologist, said over lunch in the courthouse cafeteria that he was beginning to fear he would be convicted. Moments later, his meal was interrupted by news of the verdict.

``What this proves is that while this may be a sin to you,'' Kevorkian said to reporters minutes later, ``one thing is clear: For any enlightened human being, this can never be a crime.''

His main lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, said: ``This will be the last Kevorkian trial. Despite a blatant attempt by the prosecution and certain judges to rig this trial, the jury saw through it. Thank God for the jury system.''

Lawrence Bunting, the chief assistant prosecutor who argued the case, would not say whether his office would again charge Kevorkian, who assisted in his 28th suicide between sessions on the witness stand last week.

But Michael Modelski, a former Oakland County assistant prosecutor who is a Kevorkian foe, agreed that this would probably be the last time Kevorkian would be tried for assisting in a suicide. Prosecutors have not filed charges against him in any of the last eight suicides he has attended; this was the last outstanding legal proceeding against him.

This trial was considerably different from the two earlier trials at which Kevorkian was acquitted. Those trials - one in Detroit in 1994 and the other in Pontiac early this year - were prosecuted under a now-expired Michigan law.

That law forbidding anyone from assisting in suicides did not apply if a doctor caused death while trying to administer ``medications or procedures'' to relieve pain and suffering.