Benjamin Schreiber (criminal)
{{Short description|American murderer (1952 or 1953–2023)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox criminal
| image = Benjamin Schreiber (criminal).jpeg
| alt = Mugshot of Schreiber, against a white wall
| birth_name = Benjamin Edward Schreiber
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|43|1996|08|01|noage=1}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and given age|2023|04|07|70}}
| death_place = Fort Dodge, Iowa, US
| known_for = Claim that his sentence ended after he was resuscitated
| conviction_penalty = Life imprisonment
| conviction_status = Dead
| conviction = First-degree murder
| victims = John Dale Terry
| date = July 27, 1996
| locations = Agency, Iowa, US
| weapons = Axe handle{{efn|name=axe}}
| apprehended = July 30, 1996
| imprisoned = Iowa State Penitentiary
}}
Benjamin Edward Schreiber (1952 or 1953{{snd}}April 7, 2023) was an American criminal who murdered John Dale Terry, a 39-year-old man, near Agency, Iowa, on July 27, 1996. While serving a life sentence at the Iowa State Penitentiary, he developed sepsis from severe kidney stones, requiring him to be resuscitated. He then unsuccessfully claimed that his life sentence ended as he had temporarily died.
Schreiber bludgeoned Terry with an axe handle{{efn|name=axe}} at an abandoned trailer south of Agency; Evelyn Tangie, Terry's girlfriend, was also at the scene. He was arrested on July 30 and held at the Wapello County Jail. While he sought for his charges to be dropped, he was found guilty on August 22, 1997. While imprisoned at the Iowa State Penitentiary, Schreiber unsuccessfully appealed his sentence and filed a lawsuit alongside three other prisoners claiming that being required to give a blood sample for DNA profiling was unconstitutional as the law was passed after they were convicted; the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against them in 2003. He was sent to the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics on March 30, 2015, after developing kidney stones. Despite signing a do not resuscitate order, he received fluid resuscitation and his heart was restarted five times. He filed for post-conviction relief in April 2018, claiming that he had temporarily died. His request was dismissed by a district court and the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal on November 6, 2019. He died of natural causes at a hospital in Fort Dodge, Iowa, at the age of 70.
Biography
Benjamin Edward Schreiber was born in 1952 or 1953. He lived in Ottumwa, Iowa, at the time of the murder of Terry.{{Cite news |date=August 1, 1996 |title=Ottumwa man charged in death |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/iowa-city-press-citizen-ottumwa-man-char/164482620/ |access-date=February 1, 2025 |work=Iowa City Press-Citizen |page=2A |via=Newspapers.com}}
On the night of July 27, 1996, Schreiber, who was then 43, went to an abandoned trailer south of Agency with Terry and Evelyn Tangie, Terry's girlfriend.{{Cite news |last=Okamoto |first=Lynn |date=February 10, 2000 |title=Appeals court throws out woman's murder conviction |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-appeals-court-th/164493852/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Des Moines Register |page=6M |via=Newspapers.com}} Schreiber bludgeoned Terry with an axe handle{{efn|name=axe|While The Des Moines Register reported that Schreiber used a pickaxe handle, most other sources report an axe handle.}} and fled the scene with Tangie. Schreiber threw the axe handle from his car west of Agency; it was found the next day with blood and hair on it. Terry's body was found the next morning, and Schreiber was arrested at his house at 11:09 p.m. CDT on July 30.{{Cite news |date=August 1, 1996 |title=Ottumwa man charged in man's beating death |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-ottumwa-man-charged-in-mans/164484639/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier |page=A3 |via=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press}}{{Cite news |date=March 30, 1997 |title=Ottumwa woman charged with 1996 slaying |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/globe-gazette-ottumwa-woman-charged-with/164487365/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=Globe Gazette |page=B2 |via=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press}}
File:Iowa State Penitentiary.jpg.|alt=The exterior of the Iowa State Penitentiary, pictured in 2017|upright=0.9]]
Schreiber was held at the Wapello County Jail with a {{US$|250000}} bond (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|250000|1996|r=-4}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}); a preliminary hearing was set for August 7. He pleaded his innocence on July 31. Tangie was also charged and arrested with a $250,000 bond in March 1997; she was set to be arraigned on March 31.{{Cite news |date=March 30, 1997 |title=Woman charged in clubbing death |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-benjamin-schreib/38714601/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Des Moines Register |page=2B |via=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press}} Schreiber sought for his charges to be dismissed due to insufficient evidence; a hearing was scheduled for August 4, 1997, 14 days before his trial was set to begin.{{Cite news |date=August 1, 1997 |title=Ottumwa man seeks dismissal of charges |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-benjamin-schreib/38714444/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Des Moines Register |page=2A |via=Newspapers.com}} Despite his attempts, he was convicted of first-degree murder on August 22, after roughly two hours of deliberation. His sentencing was set for October 6, while Tangie's trial was set for November.{{Cite news |date=August 22, 1997 |title=Man convicted in death |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/iowa-city-press-citizen-man-convicted-in/164490869/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=Iowa City Press-Citizen |page=2A |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=August 22, 1997 |title=Ottumwa man convicted in man's death |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-muscatine-journal-ottumwa-man-convic/164491191/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=Muscatine Journal |page=2A |via=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press}}
: {{Cite news |date=August 25, 1997 |title=Name of offender misidentified |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-muscatine-journal-name-of-offender-m/164491330/ |page=5A}} He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. While Tangie was convicted of second-degree murder, her conviction was overturned and a retrial was ordered by the Iowa Court of Appeals on February 9, 2000, saying that Charles Denham, a third party, relaying Schreiber's statements violated the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.{{Cite news |date=February 10, 2000 |title=Court orders new trial for accused murderer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/quad-city-times-court-orders-new-trial-f/164546160/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=Quad-City Times |page=9A |via=Newspapers.com}}
Schreiber appealed his sentence, claiming that he was unable to show in the trial that Terry had a criminal history and he could have been killed by someone else while committing a crime. The Iowa Court of Appeals upheld his conviction on March 31, 1999, saying that Terry's activities were irrelevant to the case and evidence against Schreiber was strong.{{Cite news |last=Santiago |first=Frank |date=April 1, 1999 |title=Appeal rejected in double slaying |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-026-darrell-appe/62087070/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Des Moines Register |page=2M |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=April 1, 1999 |title=Iowa Legislature at a glance |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-nonpareil-iowa-legislature-at/164493326/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Daily Nonpareil |page=5A |via=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press}}
In 2000, while imprisoned at the Iowa State Penitentiary, Schreiber filed a lawsuit alongside three other prisoners{{snd}}Gentric Hicks, Bobby Smith, and Archie Bear{{snd}}claiming that a 1999 law requiring felons to give a blood sample for DNA profiling was unconstitutional because they were not sentenced to the profiling; the law was passed after their convictions. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled against the prisoners on July 16, 2003, saying that the law did not further punish them but was a deterrent from future crimes. Attorney general Tom Miller supported the ruling.{{Cite news |last=Obradovich |first=Kathie |date=July 17, 2003 |title=Court upholds law requiring DNA profiling |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/quad-city-times-court-upholds-law-requir/164546358/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=Quad-City Times |page=A6 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Schreiber died of natural causes around 10:55 p.m. CDT on April 7, 2023, at a UnityPoint Health center in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He was 70 years old.{{Cite news |date=April 11, 2023 |title=Wapello County inmate dies in prison |url=https://www.ottumwacourier.com/news/wapello-county-inmate-dies-in-prison/article_5cab0402-d8c5-11ed-b3d3-0baeb065c1eb.html |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=Ottumwa Courier}}
Disease and resuscitation
{{quote box|Schreiber is either alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is dead, in which case this appeal is moot. We conclude [the law] requires Schreiber to stay in prison for the rest of his natural life, regardless of whether he was resuscitated against his wishes in 2015.|Amanda Potterfield in the Court of Appeals opinion against Schreiber{{Cite news |last=Geiger |first=Dorian |date=November 8, 2019 |title=Convicted killer claims he served life sentence by temporarily dying – did the court buy it? |url=https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/benjamin-schreiber-says-he-served-life-sentence-by-temporarily-dying |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=Oxygen}}|width=40%}}
{{external media and documents
| document1 = [https://www.iowacourts.gov/courtcases/7579/embed/CourtAppealsOpinion Court of Appeals opinion]
}}
On March 30, 2015, Schreiber was sent from the Iowa State Penitentiary to the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics unconscious{{efn|While The New York Times reported that Schreiber fell unconscious at the hospital,{{Cite news |last=Bogel-Burroughs |first=Nicholas |date=November 8, 2019 |title=A prisoner who briefly died argues that he's served his life sentence |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/us/prisoner-dies-life-sentence.html |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The New York Times}} Oxygen and CNN reported he lost consciousness at the prison;{{Cite news |last=Andone |first=Dakin |date=November 8, 2019 |title=A convicted murderer who momentarily died says his life sentence has been served |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/08/us/iowa-inmate-life-sentence-died-trnd/index.html |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=CNN}} The Des Moines Register reported he that he lost consciousness "by the time he arrived at the hospital".{{Cite news |last=Spoerre |first=Anna |date=November 7, 2019 |title=Iowan convicted of murder claims his life sentence was served when he died, was revived in medical emergency. The court disagrees. |url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2019/11/07/iowan-murderer-says-life-sentence-fulfilled-his-short-lived-death/2517110001/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Des Moines Register}}}} after experiencing seizures and a fever; he developed sepsis from severe kidney stones. Despite signing a do not resuscitate order, which his brother confirmed to the hospital, his heart was restarted five times and he received intravenous fluid resuscitation.
Schreiber requested post-conviction relief in April 2018, claiming that as he temporarily died, his life sentence had ended. A district court in Wapello County dismissed Schreiber's request and the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the district court dismissal on November 6, 2019. In the Court of Appeals opinion, judge Amanda Potterfield described Schreiber's claim as "unpersuasive and without merit" and said that his sentence did not end until a medical examiner declared him dead. She also said that the court does "not believe the legislature intended this provision [...] to set criminal defendants free whenever medical procedures during their incarceration lead to their resuscitation by medical professionals". Schreiber also claimed that his right to due process was violated when the hospital ignored his do not resuscitate order; neither court considered this claim. His appeal was compared to that of Jerry Rosenberg, a New York City murderer who unsuccessfully argued that his life sentence ended when his heart stopped during surgery.{{Cite news |last=Norri Farzan |first=Antonia |date=November 8, 2019 |title=An inmate claimed his life sentence ended when he died and was revived. Nice try, court rules. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/08/benjamin-schreiber-denied-life-sentence-appeal-iowa/ |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The Washington Post}}
Notes
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References
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Category:Year of birth uncertain