PONTIAC, Mich. -- Dr. Jack Kevorkian said Friday he would stop acting as his own lawyer, and jurors resumed deliberating murder charges in the injection death of a Lou Gehrig's disease patient.
"Your honor, I'm going to take your good advice and withdraw," said Kevorkian, who was asked repeatedly by the judge during the trial if he was sure he wanted to continue representing himself."Now you're going to do it?" asked Oakland County Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper.
"You said any time, your honor," he said.
Further legal matters in the trial apparently would be handled by attorney David Gorosh, who had been acting as Kevorkian's legal adviser.
The jury resumed deliberations Friday after five hours of discussion on Thursday ended without a verdict for the retired pathologist accused of killing 52-year-old Thomas Youk. The lethal injection was videotaped and shown on CBS's "60 Minutes" in a segment in which Kevorkian dared prosecutors to charge him.
Kevorkian could get life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. He has been tried four times previously on assisted suicide charges, with three acquittals and one mistrial.
Gorosh told The Oakland Press that Kevorkian may seek a mistrial over what he believes were inappropriate comments made by a prosecutor during closing arguments Thursday.
While objecting to Kevorkian's summations to the jury, prosecutor John Skrzynski complained to the judge that Kevorkian -- who did not testify on his own behalf -- was trying to do so rather than arguing the facts.
"He cannot, he could have gotten on," Skrzynski told the judge before stopping abruptly. "You know he didn't, he can't testify now. He's putting new facts before the jury."
To Gorosh, Skrzynski's remarks suggested Kevorkian should have taken the stand, though Kevorkian was not legally compelled to do so.