The last person that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania executed was a man named Gary Heidnik. The common person may not be familiar with that name but the author of The Silence of the Lambs used him as one of the inspirations for fictitious serial killer Buffalo Bill. Sparing those gruesome details, one notable detail about Heidnik was that he personally petitioned the state courts to “conduct no appellate review and to expedite his execution.” His request was denied and he was subject to many of the appeals that come with a death sentence in the United States.
Curiosity inspires the question, does a death row inmate have the freedom to request the death penalty? Would the state oblige, and if so, wouldn’t that just become state-sanctioned suicide? Regardless of view of the death penalty, is it justice to allow a death row inmate to seek their own death? Wouldn’t that potentially strip the surviving victims of the crime of the justice they’re entitled to?
Whether a death row inmate has the right to expedite their execution is legally complicated and ethically… gray, shall we say. For the more bloodthirsty among us, there might be a sentiment of “let ‘em fry.” For the more compassionate among us, there is probably a feeling of “do not let ‘em fry.” There are legal realities if a death row inmate wanted to press the accelerate button on their own demise. Can a death row inmate request their own execution? The answer is yes, but how?
First Things First, Is It Legal?
The long and short of it is that there are legal avenues within which a death row inmate can speed up their own execution. This can be accomplished by waiving their rights to appeal. When you are sentenced to death, there is an automatic appeal to that judgment called “the direct appeal.” In many states, this is mandatory and in others, it is optional. A convict can pursue appeals all the way up the court chain to the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, or, “to be more fully informed,” in Latin. If the Supreme Court denies this appeal, then all appeals have been exhausted and there is now nothing the inmate can look forward to except for their final meal.
If an inmate wanted to expedite their execution, they can do so by waiving their appeals. In capital punishment, this type of inmate is known as a “volunteer.” As long as they are ruled as competent and they are making this decision voluntarily and without coercion, inmates have the right to waive their appeals so long as their state has optional appeals. In Whitmore v. Arkansas, the Supreme Court ruled that as long as the defendant is competent and understands that they will be put to death, they have the right to waive their appeals.
Successful Execution Volunteers
Over 150 death row inmates have successfully volunteered for execution, about 10% of all executions, since the Supreme Court ruled that executions were Constitutional in 1976’s Gregg v. Georgia. A death row inmate like Gary Heidnik would have had a Philadelphia defense attorney file appeals and motions to stay their execution. But plenty of death row prisoners choose to waive those appeals and face execution with no obstacles slowing the inevitable down.
Perhaps the most notable case is of Utah-death row prisoner Gary Gilmore, who, in 1977, became the first inmate executed after Gregg. Gilmore “withdrew his rights of appeal from Utah’s legal system and requested that the courts enforce his death sentence as soon as possible.” His mother sued for a stay of execution on his behalf, but the Supreme Court had refused to hear her claim. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), against Gilmore’s wishes, successfully won a few stays. Gilmore was not pleased with their efforts, stating, “They always want to get in on the act. I don’t think they have ever really done anything effective in their lives. I would like them all—including that group of reverends and rabbis from Salt Lake City—to butt out. This is my life and this is my death. It’s been sanctioned by the courts that I die and I accept that.” Gilmore was executed by firing squad.
Another example would be Nevada death row inmate Scott Dozier in 2018. Dozier had been permitted by the state to waive his appeals and force his own executions. Through some complicated matters regarding the drugs intended for lethal injection, his execution was halted. Dozier subsequently hung himself in prison.
The most recent instance of successful execution volunteering is Florida inmate James Barnes in 2023. In a statement released by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP), “Without appointing any experts, the judge found Mr. Barnes competent to commit state-assisted suicide, and cleared the path for him to die in our name.”
The Ethics of Execution Volunteering
We, as a free society, have a foundational respect for an individual’s decision-making capacity. We believe that, if you have agency, you are free to exert it as you see fit. Unless, of course, that exertion impinges on or harms others. From a logical perspective, the freedom to volunteer for your own execution is sound. And from society’s perspective, we are usually happy to oblige their request. A lot of the time, a death row inmate has done something truly egregious to find themselves in that position.
The psychological impact of being on death row can’t be ignored. We acknowledge that suicidal ideation, and seeking to end one’s life are mental disorders. When you want to kill yourself, you are not of sound mind. We can appreciate a terminally ill patient’s desire to end it all, and we accept a dangerous criminal’s stroll down dead man’s row, but does that make it right? When almost all of your death row prisoners have struggled with mental health issues to varying degrees, are they really competent and of sound mind to volunteer for their own execution?
It’s hard to say. As it stands, we accept these inmates’ desire to “get it over with,” so long as there aren’t any glaring cognitive concerns. And yet, even when some inmates do show clear mental disconnects between their impending execution, the state will put them to death anyway.
Ricky Ray Rector, an Arkansas death row inmate with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head that was effectively a lobotomy, loved to save his desserts for later. When asked if he understood that he was being put to death, he confirmed that he understood. His final meal consisted of steak, fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid, and pecan pie. As he was known to do, he set aside his pecan pie for later. He told the corrections officers, as he was being taken to be executed, that he was “saving it for later.”
The mental state of death row inmates is low on the list of society’s concerns. Why care about people who (generally speaking) do not care about others? Legally, death row inmates have the right to waive their appeals and expedite their execution as long as they aren’t suffering from mental handicaps. The law is clear but the ethics are not. The one time we respect prisoner autonomy is when they are seeking to end their own lives.
