Turns out the resurrection defense doesn’t fly in Iowa.
A convicted murderer serving a life sentence in the Iowa State Penitentiary went to court to win his release — because he has already died.
Benjamin Schreiber, 66, had to be resuscitated five times in 2015 when his heart stopped after he developed septic poisoning.
According to the latter-day Lazarus and his lawyers, Schreiber’s temporary death meant that he had served out his sentence, which he received for bludgeoning a man with an ax handle in 1996.
The dead man walking argued in court papers that he was sentenced to life without parole — “not to life plus one day,” the Des Moines Register reported.
His case was denied by the Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday.
“Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot,” Judge Amanda Potterfield wrote.