united-states medical criminal-procedure capital-punishment
Can a prisoner choose not to be autopsied after execution or is it a legal requirement?
<p>I'm a writer so I've been trying to do some research for one of my MCs who ends up getting executed but has the ability to come back from the dead, preferably with a body intact so an Autopsy isn't something they'd desire after the execution and would try to deny that procedure from happening in the first place.</p>
<p>Some background information that might be necessary: My MC is executed in Tennesse by Lethal injection, in late 2019 under the Federal government (the mc was a former government spy) for the conviction of 4 homicides of other agents, treason and espionage.</p>
<p>Now, I have been trying to read and research prior to posting here but it's not all clear as there's a lot of contradictive answers online. Some say it's compulsory, some say that prisoners <em>are</em> able to side-step the autopsy afterwards, which leaves me more questions than answers.</p>
<p>Would this be something that they'd be allowed by choice or something that their lawyers could do for them or is it ultimately going to be overruled as a legal requirement for all executed prisoners?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&amp;URL=0900-0999/0922/0922.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Florida law</a> (§922.11) does provide that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The body of the executed person shall be delivered to the medical
examiner for an autopsy. After completion of the autopsy, the body
shall be prepared for burial and, if requested, released to relatives
of the deceased. If a coffin has not been provided by relatives, the
body shall be delivered in a plain coffin. If the body is not claimed
by relatives, it shall be given to physicians who have requested it
for dissection or to be disposed of in the same manner as are bodies
of prisoners dying in the state prison.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Tennessee, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2020/feb/13/no-autopsies-tennessee-electrocutions/515629/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">is reported</a> to have honored requests to not autopsy and autopsied only 1 of 6 executed prisoners. The Tennessee law (<a href="https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/oscme/tca-postmortem-examination-act.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">38-7-106</a>) says that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A county medical examiner may perform or order an autopsy on the body
of any person in a case involving a homicide, suspected homicide, a
suicide, a violent, unnatural or suspicious death, an unexpected
apparent natural death in an adult, sudden unexpected infant and child
deaths, deaths believed to represent a threat to public health or
safety, and executed prisoners. When the county medical examiner
decides to order an autopsy, the county medical examiner shall notify
the district attorney general and the chief medical examiner. The
chief medical examiner or the district attorney general may order an
autopsy in such cases on the body of a person in the absence of the
county medical examiner or if the county medical examiner has not
ordered an autopsy. The district attorney general may order an autopsy
in such cases on the body of a person in the absence of the county
medical examiner or the failure of the county medical examiner to act.
The authority ordering the autopsy shall notify the next of kin about
the impending autopsy if the next of kin is known or reasonably
ascertainable. The sheriff or other law enforcement agency of the
jurisdiction shall serve process containing such notice and return
such process within twenty-four (24) hours.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The medical examiner has discretion (autopsy is not an obligation). <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/louisiana/2014/code-revisedstatutes/title-13/rs-13-5713/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Louisiana law</a> is a little unclear at the statutory level, because</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The coroner shall either view the body or make an investigation into
the cause and manner of death in all cases involving the following...
(2) Sudden or violent deaths...(9) Deaths due to drowning, hanging,
burns, electrocution, gunshot wounds, stabs or cutting, lightning,
starvation, radiation, exposure, alcoholism, addiction, tetanus,
strangulation, suffocation, or smothering... (12) Deaths in prison or
while serving a sentence.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The coroner can discharge that obligation by non-invasive means. Lousiana has a religious-objection provision:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If the family of the deceased objects to an autopsy on religious
grounds, the autopsy shall not be performed unless the coroner finds
that the facts surrounding the death require that an autopsy be
performed in the interest of the public safety, public health, or
public welfare. In such cases the coroner shall provide the family his
written reasons for the necessity of the autopsy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's hard to see how there could be a public interest reason compelling an autopsy in the case of a governmental execution, but this is fiction.</p>
<p>Some states have a law providing for religious exceptions to autopsy. You can <a href="https://www.sccgov.org/sites/coroner/death-investigation/ReligiousobjectiontoAutopsy/Pages/home.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">make a request</a> in S. Carolina, and <a href="https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/government-code/gov-sect-27491-43.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here is the law</a> in California (moot for the moment since there are no executions in California).</p>
<p>You could try &quot;forum shopping&quot; (changing the state so that you don't get a mandatory autopsy law), but a search of all 50 states is really impractical.</p>
