Tennessee has a new execution method, 2.5 years after last scheduled execution abruptly halted
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — More than 2 years after Tennessee abruptly halted the execution of inmate Oscar Smith — admitting that correction officials were not following their own execution protocols — the state has announced a new method that could allow it to resume executions halted since May 2022. The Tennessee Department of Correction announced in a brief statement Friday it had “completed its revision of the lethal injection protocol, which will utilize the single drug pentobarbital.” The Department did not immediately release the new protocol to the public or give any further details. Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit that represents many of Tennessee’s death row inmates, said the announcement was “notable for its lack of detail.” “The secrecy which shrouds the execution protocol in Tennessee is what allowed TDOC to perform executions in violation of their own protocol while simultaneously misrepresenting their actions to the courts and the public,” Henry said in a text message to The Associated Press. Documents obtained through a public records request later showed that at least two people knew that the lethal injection drugs the state planned to use hadn’t undergone some required testing. In announcing the new protocol on Friday, Strada said, “I am confident the lethal injection process can proceed in compliance with departmental policy and state laws.” Henry noted that death row inmates have an ongoing lawsuit in federal court challenging Tennessee’s previous lethal injection protocol, which used three different drugs in series.
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