The Iowa Court of Appeals says a Wappello County man serving life in prison shouldn’t be released after he was resuscitated at the hospital.
Benjamin Schreiber is serving the life sentence after being convicted in 1997 of beating John Terry to death. Schrieber suffered septic poisoning in 2015 from a kidney stone and became unconscious in his prison cell.
Schreiber was taken to the hospital where he had to be resuscitated five times. Schrieber argues he was dead and brought back to life — so he has served his life sentence.
The Court of Appeals ruling says it doesn’t think the Iowa Legislature intended those serving life terms to be set free whenever a medical procedure during their imprisonment leads to a resuscitation by medical professionals.
The ruling says Schreiber is either alive — in which case he must remain in prison. Or he is dead — in which case the appeal is moot.
Here’s the ruling: Schreiber opinon PDF