Can a prisoner ask for execution instead of imprisonment?

December 14, 2023 5:20 PM

Idle, (very) hypothetical question: If I committed some heinous crime, and were sentenced to lifetime imprisonment, could I petition to be executed instead? The consensus seems to be that lifetime imprisonment is more lenient or merciful than execution, and I'm not certain I agree. Has anyone ever tried this? How did, or how would, it work?
posted by Faint of Butt to Law & Government (6 answers total)

Execution is generally seen as a larger punishment than a term of imprisonment. You can’t petition for a larger punishment than you have been assigned by a court, and you can’t be given a larger punishment than you have been assigned outside of due process of law. Like it or not, you’re going to have to undergo a new trial (or something like it) to be assigned a new punishment!
posted by PaulVario at 5:39 PM on December 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

There have been a couple of prisoners who went on killing sprees in prison in order to get the death penalty but that wasn't a revision of their original sentence.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:35 PM on December 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Even Capital Punisment "Volunteers" have trouble getting to their executions.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:43 PM on December 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

The case of Gary Gilmore seems relevant.
posted by misteraitch at 12:31 AM on December 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Former criminal defense lawyer here. I am not aware of a vehicle that would get that request in front of a decisionmaker, short of writing a letter to the governor, who is probably without power to modify a sentence outside the clemency/pardon process. There is not a way to get a new and harsher sentence from the trial court. Everything is set up to ask for relief from errors during a trial or sentencing or to ask for mercy, but not death. It seems to be a one-way ratchet.
posted by *s at 10:42 AM on December 15, 2023

Perhaps consider the Jeffrey Epstein case. Epstein was able to avoid the kinds of legal complications you're envisioning. It should be easy to research other similar cases.
posted by JimN2TAW at 2:09 PM on December 15, 2023