On The Front Lines
Rutherford Defends Death Row Inmate's Religious Objection to Autopsy
Citing Scripture About the Body Being the Temple of God, Death Row Inmate Requests AccommodationJohn W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, has requested that the Commonwealth of Virginia accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs of a death row inmate regarding an autopsy that is being demanded by the state. Whitehead made the appeal for accommodation in a letter to Virginia Governor Mark Warner and State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore on behalf of Brian Lee Cherrix. Cherrix, a death row inmate at Sussex 1 Correctional Facility, is scheduled to be executed on March 18, 2004. Whitehead has requested a response by 12 pm, EST, on March 15, 2004, in order to evaluate whether further legal action will be necessary to protect Cherrix's religious beliefs.
The Rutherford Institute was contacted by death row inmate Brian Lee Cherrix after a corrections officer informed him that following his execution, his body would be subjected to an autopsy ordered and conducted by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Believing that the autopsy would violate his Christian beliefs against mutilating and destroying God's temple, described in the Bible as the human body, Cherrix objected. Cherrix requested that his religious beliefs regarding the autopsy be accommodated. Cherrix asked about the basis for such an autopsy requirement. Asserting that autopsies on executed inmates are mandated by Section 32.1-283 of the Virginia Code and protect the government from being sued, the prison system declined Cherrix's request. However, a study of the code reveals no such mandate. Whitehead asserts that the Commonwealth's interest in protecting itself against lawsuits could easily be satisfied by means that would not violate Cherrix's sincerely held religious beliefs. For example, in ruling on a similar case involving a request for religious accommodation, a federal district court in another jurisdiction granted a death row inmate's motion for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the state of Pennsylvania from carrying out an autopsy after his execution. The court stated that "[a]n external examination of [the deceased] by a medical doctor prior to and after the execution, including the taking of a series of photographs and videotaping the execution, would protect the government from a lawsuit." Whitehead points out in his letter that Cherrix has no objection to the Commonwealth's external examination of his body prior to and after his execution, nor to the Commonwealth's videotaping and photographing of his execution. Cherrix is also prepared to sign a statement prior to the execution that he has not been physically abused by prison personnel and waiving on behalf of his estate any potential claims against the Commonwealth, its agents, or employees concerning the manner and method of his execution.
"Even if Virginia law required an autopsy in these circumstances, which it doesn't, Brian Lee Cherrix's right to have his sincerely held religious belief protected should outweigh any interest that the Commonwealth might have in performing an autopsy on him after his execution," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "The protections afforded all American citizens by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should be respected in life as well as in death."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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