A prisoner who ‘died’ and then got brought back to life argued that his life sentence had ended.
We’ve heard all sorts of wild prison tales, especially those involving inmates on death row.
Take, for instance, the inmate who spilled the beans on his gruesome deeds in a spine-tingling letter just days before facing the executioner, and the murderer who cleverly encoded a final three-word farewell to his loved ones.
Now, get this: another inmate, who was serving a life sentence, made the audacious claim that since he had technically ‘died’ for a bit, his sentence should be considered completed.
Meet Benjamin Edward Schreiber, a convicted murderer.
Found guilty of first-degree murder—life without parole was his fate for the axe-handle murder of John Terry back in the mid-1990s.
Fast forward to March 2015, Schreiber was struck with severe kidney stones and septic poisoning, landing him in the hospital, CNN reports.
He was discovered unconscious in his cell at Iowa State Penitentiary.
Despite a previous ‘do not resuscitate’ directive, hospital staff had to jumpstart his heart five times using IVs loaded with ‘adrenaline/epinephrine,’ according to The Des Moines Register.
When Schreiber first landed in the hospital, medics got in touch with his brother in Texas, who instructed them: “If he is in pain, you may give him something to ease the pain, but otherwise you are to let him pass.”
Despite the shaky start, Schreiber underwent surgery to mend his kidneys and was treated for septic shock with antibiotics.
Eventually, he made a recovery.
In April 2018, Schreiber sought post-conviction relief, claiming that his brief ‘death’ had technically ended his life sentence.
However, his bid for freedom in 2019 was rejected by a judge who found his argument ‘unpersuasive and without merit’.
At the time, Judge Amanda Potterfield stated: “Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot.”
While court documents say: “Petitioner asserts that he ‘died’ on March 30, 2015, and as a result of such ‘death’ he has now served the life sentence and should be released from custody.
“The court finds this assertion unpersuasive and without merit. Nothing in the record supports [the] petitioner’s claims.
“The petitioner’s filing of these proceedings in itself confirms the petitioner’s current status as living.”
Schreiber’s additional claim that his due process rights were violated when the doctors failed to follow his ‘do not resuscitate’ request was not addressed by the district court.
Due to this, the courts of appeal said it could not address it either in its ruling.
Schreiber died ‘due to natural causes’ in April 2023 in a hospital in Fort Dodge, Iowa, according to his online obituary.