State Executes Daryl Holton

The state of Tennessee used the electric chair for the first time in over 40 years to put death row inmate Daryl Holton to death, early this morning, at Riverbend Maximum Security prison in Nashville.

Holton was convicted of the 1997 murders of his three sons and daughter. He has been treated for psychiatric illnesses in the past. Stacy Rector is president of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing. She says the courts had deemed him competent.

“His decision to waive his appeals, and get rid of all his attorneys and to choose the electric chair, you know, there’s clearly a pattern of disordered thinking and mental illness that unfortunately the courts have not recognized.”

Holton opted for the electric chair, rather than the lethal injection method. Nashville City Paper editor Clint Brewer spoke for the 7 media witnesses to the execution. He said Holton seemed to be sedated.

“His head was lolling forward, his eyes were lidded somewhat. He alternately breathed heavily off and on. He yawned at least twice that I saw.”

The Department of Corrections said Holton was “hyperventilating” prior to the execution, but had not received any medications. No family members attended, however victim’s advocate Lisa Helton read a short statement from Crystal Holton, the mother of the four children.

“Today, all the anger, hatred and a long time of nightmares can finally leave me. It will be replaced by all the sweet, innocent, wondrous love that only a child can give. And I am blessed that I have, and always will have, that love times four.”

Holton was Tennessee’s fourth inmate to be executed since 2000, and the first to be electrocuted since 1960.