Kevorkian Freed; Vows Not to Assist in Suicides : Law: He is released from jail after judge lowers bond to $100 from $50,000. He is ordered to wear a monitoring device.

DETROIT — Retired pathologist Jack Kevorkian was released from jail Friday after promising not to help anyone commit suicide for the time being. He was then hospitalized to recuperate from his 17-day hunger strike.

Kevorkian, 65, was freed when a judge in neighboring Oakland County lowered his bond to $100 from $50,000 and ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device. A supporter who vowed to commit suicide if Kevorkian died in jail posted bond.

Kevorkian was driven from the Oakland County Jail to Sinai Hospital in Detroit, where he requested and ate a bowl of lentil soup, said his lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger.

“We love you, Jack,” one supporter shouted as the feeble-looking Kevorkian was taken in a wheelchair from the courtroom after Friday morning’s hearing.

Kevorkian, who has been at 20 suicides since 1990, has been charged in two of the cases with illegally assisting a suicide. The law, which was enacted to stop him, has been challenged as unconstitutional.

He had refused solid food after he was jailed on Nov. 30, saying he was prepared to die for his beliefs.

After the bail-reduction hearing in Pontiac before Oakland County Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper, prosecutor Dick Thompson said in a telephone interview he doubted that an electronic tether would stop Kevorkian from attending more deaths.

“Tethering him to his home, where the recent suicides have occurred, is like tethering an alcoholic to a bar,” Thompson said.

Kevorkian told the judge: “I must and will pledge that I will not participate in . . . what I call medicide until the matter is resolved by higher courts of this state or a vote of the public at large.”

Cooper said the $50,000 bond was excessive for a charge that carries a four-year prison term. However, she also stressed that Kevorkian would face contempt charges if he helps anyone else commit suicide while Michigan’s appellate courts consider the issue.

Kevorkian had turned down previous offers to post the $50,000 bail, saying he would not “buy” freedom. The $100 bond was different, Fieger said.

“I don’t want Jack to die,” he said. “The issue is saving Dr. Kevorkian’s life, at this point.”

Kevorkian weighed 115 pounds when he was admitted to the hospital Friday, Fieger said. He weighed 128 when he began the protest.

Kevorkian is charged in Oakland County with assisted suicide in the Oct. 22 death of Merian Frederick, a 72-year-old woman who had Lou Gehrig’s disease. He faces a second charge in Wayne County in the death of Thomas Hyde, 30, who also suffered from the degenerative nerve disorder.