NATION IN BRIEF : VIRGINIA : Condemned Men’s Semen Is at Issue

An inmate on Death Row in Boydton, Va., asked to have his semen frozen so that his girlfriend can bear his child. Joseph Roger O’Dell, 49, faces execution for raping and murdering a woman in 1985. In a petition to Virginia’s Supreme Court, he said the state’s authority to kill him does not mean it can end his bloodline. He asked that he and another condemned man, Joseph Savino, 32, be allowed to have their semen preserved. O’

Dell’s girlfriend, identified only as Sheryl, said she has given permission to be named the legal recipient. Savino, sentenced to death in 1988 for killing his male lover, said he began discussing parenthood with his girlfriend this year. The court denied the request and called it frivolous. Prison officials said they were considering it.