DETROIT - Attorney Geoffrey Fieger announced yesterday he is renewing his representation of Jack Kevorkian for the first time in five years, saying the assisted suicide proponent should be released from prison and resentenced to time served.

Fieger had planned on arguing in court for Kevorkian's release tomorrow, but the judge in the case sided with the Oakland County prosecutor's office and decided to rule on the motion without oral arguments.

Kevorkian, a 75-year-old who suffers from a variety of medical problems, was sentenced to 10 to 25 years after being convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder in the death of Thomas Youk, who was afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease. He is eligible for parole in 2007.

"Dr. Kevorkian has been more than punished. He has been pilloried," Fieger said in a statement yesterday. "His continued incarceration is brutal, inhuman and cruel."

Fieger, who persuaded juries in the 1990s to acquit Kevorkian of assisted suicide charges, said he had asked the court for Kevorkian to be present during a hearing.

The request had been scheduled to be heard tomorrow in Pontiac by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rae Lee Chabot.

Instead, Chabot's office said yesterday afternoon that she plans to issue a written ruling on Kevorkian's motion at a later date.

Fieger, reached after Chabot's decision to forego a hearing, said he didn't have immediate comment.

Anica Letica, an assistant prosecutor, said her office didn't believe oral arguments were needed. Prosecutors have asked Chabot to deny Kevorkian's request for a new sentence.

"Treatment does not act as a get out of jail free card," said Letica, paraphrasing part of her office's written request to Chabot. "There is no legal authority for the judge to resentence him when the previous sentence was valid."

Letica, who works in the office's appellate division, said Kevorkian's original sentence was within sentencing guidelines. And she noted that Kevorkian's health shouldn't be an issue, since has been receiving care while in prison.

Kevorkian represented himself in the Youk trial and had attorney David Gorosh advise him.

Fieger has said he was not asked to defend Kevorkian in the Youk case.

Gorosh, a former Fieger employee fired over Kevorkian's defense in a misdemeanor trial, began representing Kevorkian after the charges were filed in November 1998.

Kevorkian is imprisoned at the Thumb Correctional Facility near Lapeer. A federal judge recently denied a petition asking that Kevorkian be released.

Youk, 52, of Waterford Township, was shown on CBS' "60 Minutes" receiving a lethal dose of potassium chloride from Kevorkian, who argued during his trial that it was a "mercy killing."

Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130 deaths. Michigan banned assisted suicide in 1998.