‘Voluntary execution’: Is death the worst punishment?
NASHVILLE — Condemned inmate Paul Dennis Reid’s reason for dropping his death-row appeals may be more bizarre than most.
Reid, 45, who received seven death sentences in a string of murders at fast-food restaurants in 1997, claims the government has used advanced scientific technology to make his ears ring and his body parts flicker — tormenting him to the point of wanting to die.
But the Tennessee inmate, who faces death by lethal injection early Tuesday, is far from alone in choosing what has been dubbed ‘voluntary execution.’
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, nearly 100 inmates — from Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to Florida serial killer Aileen Wuornos — have picked the death chamber over prolonged legal maneuvering, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Experts cite a variety of motivations, from the strain of prison life and a desire to exert control to mental illness.
‘I think these people who are giving up are saying, ‘Life like this is intolerable and I’d rather be executed,’ said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, which frequently criticizes how capital punishment is applied.
‘For some of them, there are mental illness problems,’ Dieter said. ‘For some of them, it’s a deliberate choice. It was never intended that people spend 10 or 20 years on death row, then be executed. That’s like an extra punishment.’
Welsh White, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who has represented death-row inmates, agreed that prison conditions are a factor.
‘Some defendants would rationally conclude that they would rather die than live in prison,’ White said.
But Dianne Clements, executive director of Justice for All, a Houston-based victims’ rights organization, chuckles at the notion that life in prison would be a worse punishment than dying.
‘Isn’t it kind of silly?’ Clements said. ‘The term ‘volunteers’ has been coined by those who oppose the death penalty, in some effort to paint a picture that execution is better than life on death row. Well, anyone who is in a position to be executed did not volunteer to be there.’
About 11 percent of inmates executed since 1977 — 97 out of 848 total — have requested early executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In fact, the first inmate executed after the 1976 high court ruling was a volunteer, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, who was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison on Jan. 17, 1977.
While a quest for martyrdom apparently motivated McVeigh to seek his 2001 execution, Wuornos — a hitchhiking prostitute who killed at least six men along Florida’s highways — said in a letter that she agreed with her punishment because ‘I’m one who seriously hates human life and would kill again.’
Known as ‘The Damsel of Death,’ Wuornos was executed last October despite questions about her mental competency.
Joan Cartwright, a San Francisco clinical psychologist who has conducted testing of death-row inmates, said a combination of factors contribute to prisoners forgoing appeals.
‘Of course, there’s the depression,’ Cartwright said. ‘And they’re in a very macho environment, and proceeding with an execution would be seen in that light.
‘But I think the primary thing psychologically is that it is a way for that man to take control of his life. It’s a way for him to make that decision to do with his life.’
Even when death-row inmates ask to drop their appeals, the legal process usually doesn’t end — at least not immediately.
Attorneys and death-penalty opponents typically fight to save the life of the condemned, most often arguing — as Wuornos’ attorneys did — that the inmate lacks the mental competency to make that decision.
That’s the case in Nashville where Reid’s sister, Janet Kirkpatrick of Hungerford, Texas, filed a motion in federal court Friday claiming her brother is ‘gravely ill … and not acting rationally.’
U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell has ordered Reid to appear before him Monday — 17 hours before his scheduled education — to make sure he understands what dropping his appeals means.
In a 4-1 ruling last week, the Tennessee Supreme Court dismissed a similar motion by Reid’s attorneys. The majority said lengthy competency hearings at the trial court level had failed to substantiate claims of mental illness.
Reid, a former Texas parolee who moved to Nashville to pursue a country music career, maintains his innocence but says the government has used mind control and technology to torment him since 1985.
A self-described Christian, he says he’s ready for the afterlife.
‘I’ve leaned on Jesus Christ for the last 19 years,’ Reid said last week in an interview with The Associated Press. ‘He’s carried me through this nightmare ordeal.
‘I believe that when I die, my soul — my spirit — will ascend up to heaven, that I’ll face judgment day, that I’ll enter the pearly gates of heaven … and walk the streets of gold.’
———
Associated Press researcher Julie Reed contributed to this report.
———
On the Net:
Death Penalty Information Center: www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
Justice for All: www.jfa.net
Paul Dennis Reid federal court filings: www.tnmd.uscourts.gov/reid.html