Anti-death penalty advocate Lea Rodger tied the knot with Richard Glossip in a rather untraditional ceremony this week: inside Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where her new husband sits on death row.
The pair realise the obstacles that they face ahead makes for not an easily marked path to follow, but Ms Rodger, 32, who has spent the past decade fighting to end capital punishment, says that’s part of what motivated her to marry Glossip now and not wait.
“The one thing he’s really taken away from that is: Don’t take anything for granted ... really live in the moment,” Ms Rodger, who is a paralegal but is currently studying to be a lawyer, told The Associated Press before their small ceremony on Tuesday.
“I think both of us do a good job at that, and that’s why it was important to us that we do this now while we know we can make this commitment with each other,” she continued.
Glossip, 59, already has narrowly escaped execution three times and could be the next man Oklahoma puts to death now that the state has lifted a nearly seven-year moratorium on executions put in place due to mishaps in his case and others.
“After all I have been through, losing so much of my life and everyone in it, I have been blessed beyond all imagination,” the death row inmate said to the AP in a statement.
Between 1976 to 2015 October, the state of Oklahoma put 112 people to death through execution, but after three consecutive failed or attempted executions, a state-wide moratorium was put in place.
That was lifted last October when John Marion Grant became the 113th person put to death by lethal injection, marking the first execution in the state in more than six years.
The practise of marrying whilst incarcerated is not entirely uncommon. In fact, within Oklahoma, the state where Ms Rodger and Glossip got hitched, there are specific guidelines for prisoners to follow when and if they decide to get married while serving out their sentence.
Ceremonies semiannual, happening once in March and once in September. And all of the costs associated with the nuptials, including transportation to sign a county marriage record book, must be covered off by either the inmate or the non-incarcerated partner.
The state notably does not permit conjugal visits, though Ms Rodger informed the Associated Press that she was okayed to hold her new husband’s hand and seal the ceremony with a kiss on Tuesday.
Associated Press contributed to this report
