Court Rejects Daughter's Relgious Objections To Autopsy On Father

Thomas Arthur is on death row in Alabama. Originally his execution was scheduled for September. At that time, his daughter brought a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent an autopsy from being performed on his body after his death. The court denied the daughter's motion for a temporary injunction. (See prior posting.) Subsequently the Governor of Alabama granted a 45-day stay of execution for Arthur, while Alabama changed its lethal injection protocol. After additional legal challenges, Arthur's execution date is now set for December 6. (AP). Earlier this week, in Stone v. Allen, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87132 (SD AL, Nov. 27, 2007), an Alabama federal district court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the suit seeking to prevent an autopsy on Arthur. The court held that there is no legal support for the claim that Arthur's daughter has a constitutional right to block an autopsy on her father merely because it conflicts with her religious beliefs.