Benjamin Schreiber was a man put in prison several decades ago for assaulting a man with the pickax handle. He was convicted of first-degree murder and given a life sentence, which he would spend in an Iowa detention facility.
In 2015, during his incarceration, he developed a problem with kidney stones that eventually led to sepsis. He lost consciousness and was transferred to a hospital nearby, where his heart stopped beating on five occasions.
Epinephrine and adrenaline were given to the prisoner to revive him and he was then stabilized. At that point, his sepsis was treated and he was sent back to prison again.
Although he was a convicted murderer, he decided to go back to court and present a new argument. He said that he had served his life sentence because he had died in prison and been revived.
Schreiber also said that being resuscitated was against his wishes because he had signed a Do Not Resuscitate order. They called his brother, who said that he should be given something for pain relief but they should allow him to die peacefully.
After going to a lower court, they found the argument to be ‘unpersuasive and without merit.’
Not one to be dissuaded, Schreiber decided to go to the Iowa Court Of Appeals. They also were not impressed with his argument.
Three judges did evaluate the case carefully, with one of the judges saying: “We do not believe that the legislature intended for this provision, which defines sentences for the most serious category of crimes in Iowa and imposes the ‘harshest penalty,’ to result in the release of criminal defendants whenever medical procedures during their incarceration result in their resuscitation by healthcare professionals”
The judge went on to say: “Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually deceased, in which case this appeal is irrelevant.”
In other words, when an individual was found guilty of a class A felony, they must spend the rest of their natural life in prison, regardless of the length of that period or any events that occur prior to the end of their life.
Schreiber died recently at a medical center in Fort Dodge of natural causes.
