# Can you volunteer for the death penalty? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792 "2014-03-15T20:45:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/1 "2014-03-15T20:45:15Z")
Let’s say you commit some moderately heinous crime that would make you eligible for the death penalty. Can you ask to skip years of prison and court appeals and just ask to be put to death ASAP? Would they consider your unfit to stand trial if you asked for this? Would they try to honor your request in a timely fashion, or just say too bad and put you through the regular slow process? ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/2 "2014-03-15T20:49:52Z")
You might want to read up on Gary Gilmore. He tried to be executed but a lot of other people (ACLU, etc.) kept getting delays. He did finally get his wish. Norman Mailer wrote a very good book about the case: _The Executioner’s Song_. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/3 "2014-03-16T13:04:46Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > You might want to read up on Gary Gilmore. He tried to be executed but a lot of other people (ACLU, etc.) kept getting delays. He did finally get his wish. Norman Mailer wrote a very good book about the case: _The Executioner’s Song_. I remember that. Perhaps the best thing to do if you are a heinous criminal is commit suicide as soon as the cops are getting close [but not suicide by cop or bystander, that is cruel to the poor cop or bystander that ends up shooting you.] There have been a fair number of threads over the years on the best ways to commit suicide. You could do up a nice video confession on a thumb drive and keep it in your pocket so you don’t have to try to make some hasty confession to bystander’s cell phones. Maybe with a nice powerpoint presentation on where the bodies are hidden. Oddly enough, I am not actually being facetious - not knowing where the bodies are is very hard on the families of the victims. Searches can go on for decades … ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/4 "2014-03-16T15:00:26Z")
IANAL, but I understand that some jurisdictions may prohibit a guilty plea in a capital case (unless as part of a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty), or require appeal if a death sentence is given in a case. [Here’s a case](http://www.jaapl.org/content/36/3/409.full) in which the defendant “volunteered” for a death sentence. However, this did not avoid appeals by other parties. > [@](#): > > In Chapman v. Commonwealth, 2007 Ky. LEXIS 178 (Ky. 2007), the Supreme Court of Kentucky affirmed the decision of the Boone circuit court allowing a competent defendant to enter into a plea agreement to forgo a jury trial and sentencing and volunteer for the death penalty. The Kentucky Supreme Court examined the legal standards for competence to waive counsel, to enter a guilty plea, and to seek a punishment of death. ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/5 "2014-03-16T15:06:39Z")
No, but you can volunteer as tribute. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/6 "2014-03-16T15:13:06Z")
In the US, you cannot. All capital cases where the death penalty is being sought must be tried. You can’t plea bargain for the death penalty. You must be found guilty after a trial and then sentenced to it. Wikipedia (surprisingly) has a pretty detailed passage about the process: > **[Capital punishment in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States)** > > In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa.\[b\] It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. Capital punishment is, in practice, only applied for aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, only 20 states have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other seven, The... IANAL ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/7 "2014-03-16T15:23:44Z")
Depends on the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions allow a defendant to plead guilty and to agree to the death penalty if a competence evaluation has taken place and the court is satisfied that the defendant is competent and that the plea is freely and voluntarily entered. It’s also not completely unheard of for a death row inmate who has been through a criminal trial to waive further appeals. U.S. military courts are among those who don’t allow guilty pleas in death penalty cases - the UCMJ states that “[a] plea of guilty by the accused may not be received to any charge or specification alleging an offense for which the death penalty may be adjudged.” The Fort Hood killer wanted to plead guilty and receive the death penalty and wasn’t allowed to, so he tried his case pro se and essentially sabotaged it. More info: [Competence to Plead Guilty and Seek the Death Penalty](http://www.jaapl.org/content/36/3/409.full) [Information on Defendants Who Were Executed Since 1976 and Designated as “Volunteers”](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/information-defendants-who-were-executed-1976-and-designated-volunteers) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/8 "2014-03-16T15:29:46Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Depends on the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions allow a defendant to plead guilty and to agree to the death penalty if a competence evaluation has taken place and the court is satisfied that the defendant is competent and that the plea is freely and voluntarily entered. It’s also not completely unheard of for a death row inmate who has been through a criminal trial to waive further appeals. U.S. military courts are among those who don’t allow guilty pleas in death penalty cases - the UCMJ states that “[a] plea of guilty by the accused may not be received to any charge or specification alleging an offense for which the death penalty may be adjudged.” The Fort Hood killer wanted to plead guilty and receive the death penalty and wasn’t allowed to, so he tried his case pro se and essentially sabotaged it. > > More info: [Competence to Plead Guilty and Seek the Death Penalty](http://www.jaapl.org/content/36/3/409.full) > > [Information on Defendants Who Were Executed Since 1976 and Designated as “Volunteers”](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/information-defendants-who-were-executed-1976-and-designated-volunteers) ETA: Ninja’d by Colibri above on that first article. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/9 "2014-03-16T15:40:03Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Depends on the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions allow a defendant to plead guilty and to agree to the death penalty if a competence evaluation has taken place and the court is satisfied that the defendant is competent and that the plea is freely and voluntarily entered. It’s also not completely unheard of for a death row inmate who has been through a criminal trial to waive further appeals. U.S. military courts are among those who don’t allow guilty pleas in death penalty cases - the UCMJ states that “[a] plea of guilty by the accused may not be received to any charge or specification alleging an offense for which the death penalty may be adjudged.” The Fort Hood killer wanted to plead guilty and receive the death penalty and wasn’t allowed to, so he tried his case pro se and essentially sabotaged it. > > More info: [Competence to Plead Guilty and Seek the Death Penalty](http://www.jaapl.org/content/36/3/409.full) > > [Information on Defendants Who Were Executed Since 1976 and Designated as “Volunteers”](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/information-defendants-who-were-executed-1976-and-designated-volunteers) That’s somewhat different than going into court and volunteering for the death penalty. In those cases, the death penalty was either being sought at trial or the person in question was already convicted and serving a sentence leading to their death when they decide to end their appeals. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-volunteer-for-the-death-penalty/683792/10 "2014-03-16T15:47:03Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > That’s somewhat different than going into court and volunteering for the death penalty. In those cases, the death penalty was either being sought at trial or the person in question was already convicted and serving a sentence leading to their death when they decide to end their appeals. Read the first link. Marco Chapman waived a jury trial and asked to be sentenced to death. After he was evaluated and found to be competent, the trial court allowrd it.