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Man serving life term says county won't let him marry

For most of the 40-plus years Kevin Davis has known Norma Scott, he's been locked up, serving a life sentence for a murder he committed in the 1970s in Philadelphia.

For most of the 40-plus years Kevin Davis has known Norma Scott, he's been locked up, serving a life sentence for a murder he committed in the 1970s in Philadelphia.

Decades in prison have been no obstacle for their love: The couple got engaged in 2013.

The only things that now stand in the way of their getting married are a state prison warden and the register of wills in Fayette County, where Davis is incarcerated, according to two lawsuits filed Monday in federal court.

Davis, 57, claims that Brian Coleman, the superintendent of the State Correctional Institution at Fayette, south of Pittsburgh, bars prisoners from marrying, telling them instead to transfer to another prison that allows it, a process that often takes years if it happens at all.

Coleman did not respond to a call from The Inquirer seeking comment.

Davis also alleges that Donald Redman, the Fayette County register of wills, has refused to accommodate his request for a wedding license by strictly following the common rule of requiring both people to be physically present when applying for a license.

Davis claims that Redman could use video conferencing or other means to allow him to apply for the license. State prison policy states that inmates may use videoconferencing for marriage license applications.

A woman who answered the phone at Redman's office Monday said he was off for the day. A call to his home was not returned.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project filed the lawsuits, which claim violations of Davis' right to marry.

Online court records do not specify the date and details of the murder Davis committed. But they show he was convicted and sentenced to life.

"We've all made mistakes in life," his fiancee, who lives in Philadelphia, said in a statement released by the lawyers. "But Kevin and others like him still have rights. He still has the right to be loved. His conviction cost him his freedom, but he still has the right to a family. I'm his partner."

Other Pennsylvania counties allow prisoners to marry within prisons and to get marriage licenses without being present at the Register of Wills Office.

D. Bruce Hanes, Montgomery County's register of wills, said his office charges a $75 travel fee to an inmate and sends a representative to the prison. The office issues between 10 and 20 marriage licenses each year to prisoners, he said.

"It's no big deal," Haines said. "No fuss, no muss. We prefer not to make it complicated."

610-313-8118@Ben_Finley