Court Agrees With Executed Man's Religious Objection To Autopsy

Tennessee State Medical Examiner Bruce Levy thinks that autopsies should be performed on the body of any prisoner who has been executed. However, this week, a Tennessee federal judge upheld the request by Philip Workman that for religious reasons there be no autopsy on him. Workman was executed yesterday using a new lethal injection process. A hearing will be held Monday to decide whether state officials can obtain samples of blood and other bodily fluids from Workman's body. The story is reported by today's Tennessean. Convicted of killing a policeman, Workman also made the news when, just before his execution, he used his last-meal request to ask that a vegetarian pizza be delivered to a homeless shelter. The Tennessean reports that when authorities refused, people from across the country sent pizza to Nashville's Union Rescue Mission.