Benjamin Schreiber

Benjamin Edward Schreiber (1952 or 1953 – 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 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.

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. Schreiber bludgeoned Terry with an axe handleWhile The Des Moines Register reported that Schreiber used a pickaxe handle, Schreiber served his sentence at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Schreiber was held at the Wapello County Jail with a bond (equivalent to $ in ); a preliminary hearing was set for August 7. 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. 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. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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.

In 2000, while imprisoned at the Iowa State Penitentiary, Schreiber filed a lawsuit alongside three other prisonersGentric Hicks, Bobby Smith, and Archie Bearclaiming 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.

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.

Disease and resuscitation

On March 30, 2015, Schreiber was sent from the Iowa State Penitentiary to the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics unconscious 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.