Jack Kevorkian, the US assisted suicide advocate dubbed "Dr Death", stepped free from a Michigan prison today with few words but plans for a media blitz to support his cause.
Dr Kevorkian (79) had served eight years for a second-degree murder conviction after he videotaped himself administering lethal drugs to a 52-year-old man suffering from the debilitating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.
The former pathologist won international notoriety in the 1990s after presiding as a doctor in dozens of suicides and advocating the legalization of assisted suicide in the United States.
Under police escort, Dr Kevorkian and his lawyer drove out of a state prison in rural Coldwater, Michigan, about 100 miles (165 km) southwest of Detroit.
Kevorkian, who wore his signature blue cardigan sweater, pressed his hand to his heart and said "Good, good," when asked by a throng of waiting reporters how he felt.
"For a few days, he would like some privacy," Dr Kevorkian's lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, interjected.
Kevorkian has said he will return to the campaign for legal reform to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with medical aid, starting with a series of high-profile television interviews.
CBS reporter Mike Wallace, whose 60 Minutesnews show aired the death tape that became the central piece of evidence at Kevorkian's 1999 murder trial, was greeted by the newly released Kevorkian with a hug.