The Why do they perform autopsies on executed prisoners? thread got me thinking: suppose someone has been sentenced to die. All the appeals have been used up. They are scheduled to die today. If someone comes up to them and shoots them, is that murder?
Yes, of course. Sentencing someone to die means the state will execute you, not that “someone” will execute you. A random person murdering the criminal is not the state, so the crime has nothing to do with the death sentence. Which means it’s a normal murder.
Definitely murder. When it comes to executions, the state isn’t just looking to get a dead prisoner one way or another. If a prisoner slits his wrists the night before he is to be executed, they’ll cart him off to a hospital and do everything in their power to save his life so they can execute him.
Of course it’s murder. Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being. It’s just as much murder as if you kill a terminal cancer patient with a day left to live.
The only person(s) in the case you raise who may lawfully kill the condemned prisoner are the state executioners. If, at the moment before the lethal injection is made, you shoot a bullet into the head of the condemned prisoner, that’s murder.
- Rick
A related question; what if the prisoner breaks free and kills the executioner? Is that murder, or self-defense? You can’t say the prisoner didn’t have reasonable grounds to fear for his life . . .
So do the death warrants specify a specific time and a specific person? If the executioner kills the prisoner an hour early, is that murder? What about an hour late? If something happens to the executioner, can someone else take over? Or does there have to be another death warrent issued?
Until a state passes a law that refers specifically to deathrow inmates and their appointed executioners, any court faced with this situation will have to interpret the applicability of existing laws. For that to happen, a government prosecuting attorney’s office has to put together a case (about a five minute job, plus the walk to the Xerox to make copies) and attempt to prosecute it, deciding which statutes to use in their case. Since most likely they will pursue a “murder” conviction, you have to look at those laws, which vary from state to state.
Most states have laws referring to use of force by officers of the state, but they never really cover specific cases. They typically refer to sworn officers carrying out their “lawful duties” and that it is a violation to interfere with those duties. As the executioner is carrying out duties assigned under the authority of state law, a escaping prisoner in this case is first guilty of interfering with those duties, until something more serious occurs. Once he attacks the officer it grows to assault, then battery if he actually manages physical contact. At that point he has not committed 3 crimes, by the definition of most states, because each lower level is considered an element of the next greater offense. At the point where the conflict results in criminal homicide, it would then most likely be prosecuted as murder, though it could be defended as manslaughter, if it could be described as accidental. For example, he breaks loose and makes a run for it. Coming around a corner he slides into a guard or other staff member, knocking them down. They hit their head on an object, breaking their neck. Since murder involves intent, the prisoner could say “It was an accident! I didn’t mean it!” Some states though have conditions to murder degrees stating that if the death occurs as the result of another crime, a charge of murder can be brought regardless of intent.
It all depends on the state involved, though. Take a look at the Criminal Code for your state and look up murder. The books will cross reference a few “precedent” cases, which give you a chance to see how the law has been applied in the past, and look for something similar to your case.
IIRC the death warrant usually sets the execution date as “on or after” so killing before that date would not be authorized. Once again, it’s outside the scope of the law.
As for the executioner, it’s not a specific “person” it’s a person authorized by the state. I believe in Utah, which still authorizes death by firing squad, one of the shooters has a blank in their gun, so no one is 100% certain who fires the fatal bullet.
Self defense? A prisoner can claim it. Let’s see what the jury says when a convicted murderer sentenced to death kills the executioner.