Idaho law student writes bill to ban sale of human remains — before she can even practice law

More than a month after a bill she wrote to outlaw the sale of human remains took effect, University of Idaho law student Desalyn Swank walks down the halls of the Idaho State Capitol. (Photo by Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)

When Desalyn Swank applied to law school at University of Idaho, she said she made it clear she wanted to reform the state’s laws.

Before her first year at law school ended, she already had.

This year, the Idaho Legislature passed, and the governor signed, a bill she wrote to strengthen the state’s laws to criminalize the possession and sale of human remains.

Inspired by her faith and her upbringing as the daughter of a mortician, she worked with coroners, law enforcement and others to craft a bill that didn’t receive a single no vote from any of Idaho’s 105 state lawmakers — all in the final few weeks of this year’s legislative session, when lawmakers often discourage new bills.

But she doesn’t take all the credit.

“I don’t think that I really carved the path forward,” Swank said in an interview. “I think that it carved the path for itself because … the human remains retail market is so heinous, and it’s so against what we stand for as a nation and as humanity and what we hold as our values.”

The law, which took effect July 1 through House Bill 856, makes it a felony to sell own, buy or lease “any artifacts or any human remains taken from a cairn, grave, or burial site,” or to “sell or advertise the sale of any material advertised as real human remains.” The law carves out several exceptions, including actions to perform government duties, such as work done by law enforcement or coroners, or by licensed medical practices, mortuaries, cemeteries, or medical research facilities.

'A MORTICIAN'S KID'

At 16, Swank started full-time college and earned a degree in communications. She got married soon after, and went on to get a master’s degree in communications and later worked at several companies, including Amazon Web Services in Seattle.

But when she got divorced, she said she went soul searching.

“I kind of went into this midlife makeover, and thought, ‘OK, well, what did I want to be when I was little?’” Swank said. “I thought, ‘OK, well, I wanted to take care of dead people like my daddy.’”

Then she decided to go to law school — to help pass legislation and policy “to protect those that have passed that are being taken advantage of.”

Swank, who’s now 38, said her path became clear after prayer. She wanted to honor her father, and his foster dad, who were both funeral directors.

She described herself as definitely being a “mortician’s kid.”

“I wave to graveyards as I drive by, and I say ‘Hi, everybody!’” Swank said. “When you’re raised in that industry, you’re taught the basic level of respect and honor for those that have passed that I think most people in our country, the majority — except for those that are working in human remains retail — have as part of our culture in America.”

“I don’t have that squeamish factor that some people might have when they talk about death or when they have to deal with death, because I was raised around it,” she said.

To prepare the bill, Swank has researched the human remains retail industry — pouring through websites that depict skulls turned into lamps, a skeleton lying in a coffin propped up for display, and skulls for sale on Facebook groups for $700 and $1,200.

“As far as human remains retail goes, we’re not just talking about old graves” that are the sources of human remains, she said, describing methods retailers might use to remove flesh from bones.

University of Idaho law student Desalyn Swank poses for a photo on the front steps of the Idaho State Capitol.

Desalyn Swank said she enrolled in law school to help pass legislation and policy “to protect those that have passed that are being taken advantage of.” (Photo by Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)

HOW SHE PREPPED THE BILL

When she started law school at U of I, she got paired with a mentor: Richard Seamon, who’s taught prospective attorneys for 30 years.

They started with a deep dive into how the state’s existing laws work, to find and fix the loophole that human remains retailers tap, she said. Then she drafted the bill, got feedback from Seamon, and reached out to various groups that had a stake in the issue, like law enforcement, coroners and academics.

Seamon said he hadn’t ever taught a law student who’d written a successful bill while they were in school.

“I have never known a student who had such a clear vision of what she wanted to accomplish and was so dedicated in pursuing it,” he said. “It really, from my perspective, is just so encouraging because this is really in the finest legal tradition. Lawyers have a professional responsibility to reform the law. It’s always in need of improvement, and lawyers are better situated than anyone else to make law and to advocate for it.”

He called Swank “exactly the kind of person who I think is going to make a wonderful lawyer, not only because of her skills, but also because of her integrity and her honesty and her passion for justice.”

When Swank had finished her bill and brought it to the Legislature, she said many lawmakers weren’t even aware of the issue. That includes Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, who was the bill’s original sponsor.

‘WE CAN TRY AND SEE'

With weeks left before the Idaho Legislature was set to adjourn for the year this spring, she reached out to Rep. Bruce Skaug, who chairs the House Judiciary and Rules Committee. He referred her to Scott, a North Idaho lawmaker who serves on that committee.

That late in the legislative session isn’t the best time to bring a new bill, Scott said. But because of Swank’s work, the bill seemed ready to go, Scott said.

“I told her that I would carry it. Not sure, you know, it’s a new topic for a lot of legislators, so sometimes it takes several years to get something passed,” Scott said in an interview. “So I said, ‘We can try it and see what happens.’”

Within a week, it had passed both the House and Senate unanimously — a rare feat in the Statehouse. Scott credits Swank’s work.

In the past, Scott said she’s had students bring ideas for bills to her. But, she said, “I’ve never had a student take such an initiative and take such an active interest in and then actually showing up and helping the bill work through the process.”

But Swank doesn’t think this bill will be the end. She said “tougher laws” are needed.

“Laws are made because there’s bad actors, because somebody did something that harmed somebody else, and they weren’t able to — justice was not able to be served,” she said. “And so we fill those gaps as society, and when we bring forth those gaps to lawmakers, and lawmakers work with members of the community to ensure that justice will be able to be served in the future.”

“At least,” she added, “that’s one way laws are made. That’s the way this law was made.”