Kevorkian was on trial on Oakland County Circuit Court in Pantiac，Michigan， for his role in the 1993 deaths of Merian Frederic， 72， of AnnArbor， Michigan， and All Khalili， 61， a physician from suburban Chicago.Frederic suffered from Lou Gehrigs disease and Khalili was afflictedwith bone cancer when Kevorkian helped them breath carbon monoxidethrough a mask in his apartment in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak，Michigan. If convicted on both counts， Kevorkian would have faced amaximum prison term of eight years.As in his first trial in 1994， the key issue in this case was whetherKovorkian intended that Frederic and Khalili die when he helpedadminister the deathly carbon monoxide.A section of the Michigan law， which was enacted to stop Kevorkianbut expired in 1994， said the measure did not apply if the intention of theperson assisting in the suicide was "to relieve pain or discomfort and notto cause death， even if the medication of procedure may hasten or increasethe risk of death."