Middle Tennessee’s federal public defender is asking Gov. Bill Lee to halt all executions until an independent group can review the state’s protocols. The defense attorneys sent a letter to the governor Thursday morning, one week after he granted a last-minute reprieve for Oscar Smith.
A man on Tennessee’s death row tells the courts he would rather face a firing squad than lethal injection
Oscar Smith’s attorneys think lethal injection is cruel and unusual. But he doesn’t want to choose the electric chair, either. Instead, they’re asking for an alternative: firing squad.
Nicholas Sutton’s Last Words Before Execution: ‘I’m Just Grateful To Be A Servant Of God’
Nicholas Sutton thanked his family, friends and God before he was executed by electric chair Thursday night. Sutton was sentenced to death in 1986 for killing a fellow inmate while in prison for three other murders he committed as a teen. Sutton is the seventh person executed in Tennessee since the end of a nine-year […]
‘He Saved My Life’: Prison Guards, Jurors And Victims’ Families Defend Death Row Inmate Nicholas Sutton
Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday that he won’t intervene in Nicholas Sutton’s scheduled execution Thursday. Sutton will likely die in the electric chair Thursday night for killing a fellow inmate in January of 1985. That’s after more than a dozen people asked the governor to let Sutton spend the rest of his life in prison. […]
Lee Hall Executed In The Electric Chair For 1991 Murder In East Tennessee
Lee Hall was executed Thursday night at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. It was the sixth in a string of executions in Tennessee since a nine-year lapse ended in 2018, and the fourth of those to be in the electric chair.
Tennessee Makes Final Preparations To Use Its Electric Chair Again
Tennessee will execute its sixth death row inmate Thursday night since a hiatus ended in 2018. The courts and Gov. Bill Lee have denied all of Lee Hall’s last-minute appeals thus far. Now, Hall faces the electric chair. He’s the state’s fourth death row inmate to choose electrocution over lethal injection in the past year.
Another Tennessee Death Row Inmate Chooses Electrocution
Listen With a handwritten note, Tennessee death row inmate David Earl Miller has chosen to die by electric chair. He selected the method of death Monday afternoon.
Backlash Against Tennessee’s Electric Chair Law Fuels Death Penalty Opponents
A few dozen United Methodist clergy held a prayer vigil near the Capitol Tuesday. They were protesting Governor Haslam’s signing of law legalizing the electric chair as a backup to lethal injection.
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