TROY, Mich., Jan. 16 (UPI) -- A lawyer for the late "Dr. Death," Jack Kevorkian, is fighting to have 17 of the doctor's paintings returned to his Michigan estate from a Boston-area museum.
Kevorkian, who died in June at 83, entrusted the paintings to the Armenian Library and Museum Association 12 years ago, The Detroit News reported Monday.
Kevorkian was involved in 130 assisted suicides, earning him the nickname Dr. Death. After loaning his artwork to the ALMA, he spent eight years in prison and was paroled in 2007.
Now lawyer Mayer Morganroth is fighting to have the artwork returned to Michigan for the benefit of Kevorkian's niece, Ava Janus, who lives in Troy.
"The museum filed a lawsuit over the paintings in federal court in Massachusetts first, so they feel that is the proper venue," said Morganroth, executor of Kevorkian's estate. "Well, Kevorkian lived here, his estate is here and I am here. This is the proper jurisdiction, not Massachusetts."
Morganroth said he has an agreement, signed by Kevorkian and an ALMA official, that said the paintings were to be given back to Kevorkian on request. The museum argued the curator did not have the authority to make such an agreement.
"Well, they never would have had the paintings if not for the agreement," Morganroth said.
Morganroth said a sale of Kevorkian's work, valued at more than $2.5 million, was dampened by the ongoing lawsuit.
"There were six museums which stayed away [from the auction] because of the dispute, and I can't blame them," Morganroth said.
