A right to die with family watching?
Sammy Flippen has 46 relatives who want to be with him if and when he’s executed next Friday. The state says no, the limit is two — even though the law seems to say otherwise. So Flippen’s family has filed suit. Their press statement:
RALEIGH - More than 40 relatives of death row inmate Samuel Russell Flippen filed a lawsuit today in Wake County Superior Court seeking an order that they all be allowed to attend the execution of Mr. Flippen, scheduled for 2 a.m., Friday, August 18, at Central Prison in Raleigh.
Lawyers for Mr. Flippen on Monday will seek a temporary restraining order to enjoin the execution unless all relatives who want to attend are allowed to do so.
Richard M. Greene of Greensboro, one of the attorneys for Mr. Flippen, said an official at Central Prison told him that Warden Marvin Polk gave Flippen a letter saying only two relatives would be allowed to attend his execution–his mother and father.
Greene said he has not seen the letter, but this limitation conforms with the limit placed on Kenneth Boyd prior to his execution in December 2005. Greene said this limit was communicated in his absence to Boyd’s relatives, and they exchanged heated words in deciding which two would attend.
Greene and co-counsel Thomas F. Loflin III of Durham contend in the lawsuit that North Carolina law places no limit on relatives who have a right to attend their loved one’s execution.
Forty-six relatives are plaintiffs in the lawsuit which is against the warden, Mr. Polk, who is the person charged with carrying out the sentence of death. These relatives include the father, mother, grandfather, two sisters, eight aunts, six uncles, one nephew, 12 first cousins, seven second cousins or first cousins once removed, and seven related by marriage. Affidavits of 44 relatives were filed with the lawsuit Friday.
The North Carolina law relied upon by the Plaintiffs is North Carolina General Statute 15-190, which says: “At such execution there shall be present the warden or deputy warden or some person designated by the warden in the warden’s place, and the surgeon or physician of the penitentiary. Four respectable citizens, two members of the victim’s family, the counsel and any relatives of such person, convict or felon and a minister or member of the clergy or religious leader of the person’s choosing may be present if they so desire.”
The relatives assert in their court papers that under G.S. 15-190, the “Legislature has through statute determined the right of a condemned prisoner’s relatives to be present when he draws his final breath should they desire to be present. G.S. 15-190. The statute sets NO limit on the number of relatives who have a right to be present when the condemned person is executed.”
The relatives contend they “will suffer irreparable harm and injury if only two of them are allowed to be present at his execution…”
Loflin said the statute does have numerical limits on certain persons–but not the inmate’s relatives–who may attend the execution.
Loflin said, “It is well-settled law in North Carolina that where a statute is clear on its face, the courts are required to follow the statute as written and not look outside its wording to try to fathom legislative intent.” He cited two North Carolina Supreme Court cases: Utilities Commission v. Edmisten, 291 N.C. 451, 232 S.E.2d 184 (1977); State v. Camp, 286 N.C. 148, 209 S.E.2d 754 (1974).
“If the Legislature had intended to limit the number of relatives, it would have done so,” he said. “The Legislature did choose to cap the number of family members of the victim at two. No cap was placed on the number of the inmate’s relatives who may attend if they desire to attend.
“Actually, the intent is clear the Legislature really did not want either the death row inmate or his relatives to have to choose among those relatives who understandably want to be present when he draws his last breath,” Loflin said.