Roanoke Times
         Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 19, 1991                   TAG: 9108190081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: AVIS THOMAS-LESTER
                A PLEA FROM DEATH ROW: LET US BE FATHERS
Joseph Roger O'Dell III of Roanoke says he sits in his cell on
Virginia's death row and cries when he sees "cute little babies" in
Huggies television commercials.
"It just breaks my heart, knowing I might never have one," said
O'Dell, unmarried and childless at 49.
But if O'Dell has his way, he could become a father after all - albeit
not in the usual way.
Facing the electric chair for the rape and murder of a Virginia Beach
secretary in 1985, O'Dell has requested, along with fellow death-row
inmate Joseph Savino, that their sperm be frozen before their
executions and used to inseminate their girlfriends afterward.
O'Dell, who has no siblings, argues that because his execution would
end his bloodline, not allowing him to have his sperm frozen
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
The request is one of the stranger ones ever made of prison officials,
in Virginia or elsewhere, corrections specialists say, and so far
Virginia officials aren't sure what to do about it.
O'Dell also asked the Virginia Supreme Court to order prison officials
to allow him and Savino, 32, to preserve their sperm. The request was
denied on the grounds that it was "frivolous," Savino but prison
officials are still considering it. He has appealed to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
"It is my constitutional right to have children," a shackled and
handcuffed O'Dell said at Mecklenburg prison recently. "They have the
legal right to kill me, but they have no right to destroy my
bloodline."
His girlfriend, Sheryl, who asked that her last name not be used, is
an insurance adjuster in Virginia Beach. She said she is not yet
reconciled to being inseminated with his sperm, but she has given
permission to be named as the legal recipient.
"We love each other, and we should have the right to have a child
together," Sheryl said. "I don't want to lose the opportunity just
because they take his life."
Savino was sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty in Bedford
County to hammering to death Thos "Tom" McWaters, his 64-year-old
lover, in 1988. Savino said he and his current girlfriend began
discussing parenthood earlier this year, and he approached O'Dell for
advice because of his reputation as a jail house lawyer.
"This is something that I just want to do," he said.
A ruling on Savino's appeal of his death sentence isn't expected for
at least three years.
One of the potential sticking points with state officials is the cost,
which is likely to run into thousands of dollars, because the two men
want to provide sperm samples when their execution dates are set and
have their girlfriends inseminated after their executions, which could
be years later.
Prison officials said it is not likely they will approve the procedure
unless the men can pay for it. O'Dell hopes that he can get the money
contributed, or that Atlanta Xytex Corp., the sperm bank to which he
has written, will donate its services.
Xytex spokesman Ed Selby said three samples of semen are stored by the
company for $400 a year. The company suggests having a doctor perform
the procedure, but there also is a $165 portable kit that men can use
to take their own specimens, he said.
Selby said he believes O'Dell's request is the first by a death-row
inmate. Usually clients are terminally ill or are men considering
vasectomy, Selby said.
But, Selby said, there is no reason the procedure should not be done
on a prisoner.
"If he pays for it, I don't care," Selby said. "We are not in the
position to make judgments on the character of our . . . patients. If
it was Charles Manson who wanted to store his semen, I'm sure we would
do it. I'm sure no one would want to handle it, but we would do it."
W.P. Rogers, Department of Corrections administrator for Virginia,
where 45 death-row inmates reside, said he has referred the inmates'
request to the department's chief physician, Bavlir Kapil. "Obviously
this is new ground" that will take investigation before a decision is
made, Rogers said.
Rogers said prison officials must examine whether they can legally
permit such a request, and whether security would be affected by
allowing the materials needed for the procedure into the facility.
Rogers said prison officials attempt to satisfy "reasonable requests"
from inmates, but that he would not approve the procedure, which he
believes may be an elaborate publicity stunt, if O'Dell and Savino
cannot pay for it.
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