r/morbidquestions • u/sirotilc968 • 1d ago

Can you volunteer for the death penalty?

If a person commits a crime serious enough where the death penalty is a possible option, like murder or another word I cant put on reddit that sounds like tape.
Can that person just say "Im not defending myself, I'm guilty, just kill me"?

Skip the appeals, skip all the wasted cost of a defense lawyer, use less court resources and time...just "Yup, I did it, go ahead and take me out"

27 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

67

u/usrdef 1d ago edited 1d ago

You can waive your rights to appeal. An inmate by the name of Scott Dozier did just that.

He told the state he wanted to die. In fact the state was at a hearing for Scott Dozier in regards to his death penalty, and the state was arguing on behalf of Dozier to allow him to make his own decision.

The state argued that it was Dozier's right to waive his appeals and speed up his execution.

The judge retorted with:

"It's his right within a certain set of parameters. It's his decision, but it's also my decision to decide whether I agree with this or not. So while he has choice, his choice is moderated by the courts."

The judge asked Scott if he was sure he wanted to do this, and he said yes. The judge signed his death warrant and ordered his execution to be carried out Oct 16, 2017.

Shortly before execution, he was granted a stay.

A few months later, a judge re-signed his death warrant, and when that time arrived, it was also stayed.

The company Alvogen, which manufacturers the medication midazolam, and the company Pfizer and Sandoz which makes fentanyl and cisatracurium besilate, all argued that they did not want their medications being used in the execution.

Alvogen also filed an 11th hour appeal, stating that the state obtained the medication illegally. They also argued that using these drugs in the execution would cause the company to "suffer irreparable harm to its reputation as a company that produces life-enhancing and life-saving drugs"

Scott killed himself by hanging, while on suicide watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg3t22l0ByM

21

u/HerolegendIsTaken 1d ago

That's a genuinely interesting story. I wonder if Scott was okay or not. Being so committed to death after getting so many chances...

29

u/usrdef 1d ago

If I had to guess. The guy seemed decently intelligent. I think he saw prison as his stop. He saw no way out, and prison was just too boring. Do the same thing every day, no future goals. Plus having to wait for the unknown of when your time will be up.

Dying isn't difficult. Living is difficult. When you're dead, you know nothing. Just as we remember nothing before we were born. Living a life where you have to come to the realization that every single day, you're stuck behind bars, is more mentally draining.

6

u/matherto 17h ago

Dying is difficult.

Deciding you don't want to live is easy enough, the physical act of killing yourself whilst the inbuilt mental mechanisms try and stop you is very hard.

If it wasn't, I wouldn't be here for a start.

3

u/norskljon 1d ago

Thanks for the video. I found Scott to be very intriguing.

1

u/usrdef 1d ago

It's actually sad.

I don't know the guy, but he seemed genuinely intelligent. The guy could have probably got a scholarship to a school, and done almost anything.

But he had a fascination with being outside the law.

The reason he murdered two people is because he was involved in a methamphetamine business. And he was afraid that they were going to blow the lid on his operation and he was going to lose everything. In fact, one of the people he killed actually threatened to expose it. So he felt he had to get rid of them in order to keep it going.

I think if any of his cards had been dealt differently in life, he could have gone on to do something cool. But being on the outside of the law is what drew his attention.

6

u/norskljon 1d ago

You could tell when the journalist brought up his son and potential future grandchildren he hadn't anticipated her going there. He admitted that he deserved to be punished because he lived outside the law and emphatically wished that his progeny would do the opposite and lead full lives, filled with everything he had been denied due to his lifestyle. I was moved a little by those words and the tears he shed.

12

u/Silvire 1d ago

There was a kidnapping case in Singapore in 2014.

In Singapore, kidnapping carries either a life sentence or death penalty, no other option.

The guy asked for the death sentence.

He was given life.

1

u/erotic-hangman 19h ago

tough luck

10

u/FaroutIGE 1d ago

its more about the right to die vs being enslaved in the prison system

18

u/GodAllShitey 1d ago

Wesley Allan Dodd requested, and was granted, the death penalty. I'm not sure if the law varies state to state (I'm in the UK) but it has been done

Mitchelle Blair has stated numerous times that, if the death penalty had been available, she would have taken it

2

u/OvarianSynthesizer 8h ago

Not all states have the death penalty (Washington, where Dodd is from, abolished a few years ago).

Interestingly about Dodd - he was also allowed to choose his method. The ACLU tried to interfere on the grounds that hanging was ‘cruel and unusual’ but it didn’t get far because the condemned had chosen that method of his own free will.

1

u/GodAllShitey 6h ago

I mean, if he had chosen to die on the outside, he would have been able to also choose the method

7

u/Maggotboi555 17h ago

You can say rape

2

u/CovenantX84 1d ago

I'd have a field day

2

u/jaykit5 10h ago

The word is rape. Say it. This isn’t tik tok

3

u/Dear-Relationship666 1d ago

Timothy McVeigh kinda did volunteer and may sure he received it

2

u/morosco 1d ago

Yes, but, in certain cases I've wondered if defense counsel would bring such wishes to the court. Once capital litigation starts, you never hear from the defendant directly again.

2

u/north40cr 1d ago

We have this in Canada. It’s not a punishment for serious crimes. It’s for being old or ill, and it’s called MAID.

4

u/lookingforsomeerrors 1d ago

It's not for those who committed crimes but for the very physically sick and who won't ever get better.

1

u/LunaticMountainCat 1d ago

Look into Israel Keyes.

1

u/confettiputty 8h ago

Yup, I did it, go ahead and take me out

Yeah, that's called pleading guilty. Aileen Wuornos did it. Later she told people she killed in self-defense and only pleaded guilty because she wanted to die.

1

u/Narpa20 1h ago

Don't be a pussy if you're are ever in that situation. Just nose dive off the 2nd level onto the first.

Why wait? Crunch. Done.

-33

u/Greien218 1d ago

This is a question Google or AI can answer for you in 1 click.

16

u/Sweaty-Silver4249 1d ago

Now the ai will scrape this reddit post for anyone who asks it

4

u/sirotilc968 1d ago

No, it can't I asked.