Gov. Lee: Execution report complete, will release later
2 years ago

Gov. Lee: Execution report complete, will release later

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Friday that the independent review into the state’s lethal injection procedure has been completed, but he refused to immediately release the findings. The governor’s office then refused to release records that could have illuminated his decision, citing attorney-client privilege and the disputed “deliberative process privilege.” Lee appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to review circumstances that led to the failure. Documents obtained through a public records request later showed that at least two people knew the night before that the lethal injection drugs the state planned to use hadn’t undergone some required testing. “We want to deliver it and we’ll have it delivered before the end of the year.” Tennessee’s independent review comes as many of the executions carried out this year were “botched” or highly problematic.

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History of this topic

Tennessee has a new execution method, 2.5 years after last scheduled execution abruptly halted
1 week, 5 days ago

Tennessee has a new execution method, 2.5 years after last scheduled execution abruptly halted

Associated Press  

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 …

Faith leaders urge independent review of Alabama executions
1 year, 11 months ago

Faith leaders urge independent review of Alabama executions

Associated Press  

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — More than 170 pastors and other faith leaders on Tuesday urged Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to authorize an independent review of execution procedures, as Oklahoma and Tennessee did after a series of failed lethal injections in those states. The group applauded Ivey for taking the “bold and necessary step” of ordering a review of Alabama execution procedures …

Tennessee says pair gave incorrect execution drug testimony
1 year, 11 months ago

Tennessee says pair gave incorrect execution drug testimony

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ …

Top Tennessee prison officials fired after report finds ‘shocking’ issues with death penalty drugs
1 year, 11 months ago

Top Tennessee prison officials fired after report finds ‘shocking’ issues with death penalty drugs

The Independent  

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Two top Tennessee corrections …

2 Tenn. officials fired after lethal injection errors noted
1 year, 11 months ago

2 Tenn. officials fired after lethal injection errors noted

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Department of Correction has fired its longtime top attorney and another employee following a scathing independent report on failures within the state’s lethal injection system. The firings came a day before the Republican governor publicly released the report, whose findings cited widespread failures to conduct required testing on the injection drugs under Tennessee’s own rules, …

Report shines new light on execution secrecy in Tennessee
2 years ago

Report shines new light on execution secrecy in Tennessee

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When multiple pharmaceutical companies objected to Tennessee using their drugs to kill death row inmates several years back, the scramble to find lethal injection chemicals needed to carry out state-sanctioned executions grew frantic. The result: The state put a single employee with no medical background in charge of procuring the drugs, and the state’s own flawed lethal …

Report: Tenn has broken its lethal injection rules since ’18
2 years ago

Report: Tenn has broken its lethal injection rules since ’18

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee has not complied with its own lethal injection process ever since it was revised in 2018, resulting in several executions being conducted without proper testing of the drugs used, according to an independent review released Wednesday. Stanton’s report rebuked top Correction leaders for viewing the “the lethal injection process through a tunnel-vision, result-oriented lens” and claimed …

Tennessee execution pause through 2022 could last longer
2 years, 6 months ago

Tennessee execution pause through 2022 could last longer

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After Tennessee Gov. Many of the problems surfaced as part of challenges of Tennessee’s execution process by two death row inmates in federal court. Those cases are on hold until the investigation ordered by Lee concludes — but in the meantime, the state attorney general’s office acknowledged in a May 6 court filing that there may be …

Records: 2 people in execution knew drugs hadn’t been tested
2 years, 7 months ago

Records: 2 people in execution knew drugs hadn’t been tested

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — At least two people connected to a Tennessee execution that was abruptly put on hold last month knew the night before that the lethal injection drugs the state planned to use hadn’t undergone some required testing, newly released records show. Bill Lee had called off the execution of 72-year-old Oscar Smith barely an hour before the planned …

Tennessee governor won’t release records on execution error
2 years, 8 months ago

Tennessee governor won’t release records on execution error

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has refused to release records that could illuminate his decision to abruptly halt the execution of Oscar Smith last month, citing attorney-client privilege and the disputed “deliberative process privilege.” In response to a records request by The Associated Press, the Republican governor’s office released emails containing Lee’s April 21 public statement granting Smith …

Tennessee pauses executions, will review lethal injections
2 years, 8 months ago

Tennessee pauses executions, will review lethal injections

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Gov. Lee didn’t initially disclose the reason for stopping Smith’s execution other than to say there was an “oversight” in the preparation of the lethal injection drugs. In a Monday statement, Federal Public Defender Kelley Henry said the Republican governor’s decision shows “great leadership.” “The use of compounded drugs in the context of lethal injection is fraught …

Tennessee Pauses Executions, Will Review Lethal Injections
2 years, 8 months ago

Tennessee Pauses Executions, Will Review Lethal Injections

Huff Post  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Gov. Bill Lee paused executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year on Monday to enable a review of its lethal injection procedures after a testing oversight forced the state to call off the execution of Oscar Smith an hour before he was to die. He’ll also review the clarity of the lethal injection process manual …

Tennessee pauses executions till year’s end to review lethal injection procedures
2 years, 8 months ago

Tennessee pauses executions till year’s end to review lethal injection procedures

LA Times  

Tennessee is pausing executions to enable an independent review of its lethal injection procedures after a testing oversight forced the state to call off the execution of Oscar Smith an hour before he was to die this month. “However, the death penalty is an extremely serious matter, and I expect the Tennessee Department of Correction to leave no question that …

Tennessee plans 1st COVID-19-era execution, more scheduled
2 years, 8 months ago

Tennessee plans 1st COVID-19-era execution, more scheduled

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee is set to execute its first inmate Thursday since the start of the pandemic, planning a lethal injection procedure that has become less common in the state than the electric chair in recent years. The execution using the state’s preferred method puts Tennessee on a divergent path from South Carolina, which has been preparing for a …

Tennessee governor gives death row inmate temporary reprieve
4 years, 2 months ago

Tennessee governor gives death row inmate temporary reprieve

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Lee granted one in July to Harold Nichols, and the Tennessee Supreme Court issued two earlier reprieves to Oscar Smith and Byron Black. Payne’s attorneys have also said he should not be executed because he is intellectually disabled, and the U.S. Supreme Court has said that executing those with intellectual disabilities violates the U.S. Constitution. …

First federal execution in 17 years; another set Wednesday
4 years, 5 months ago

First federal execution in 17 years; another set Wednesday

Associated Press  

— The federal government on Tuesday carried out its first execution in almost two decades, killing by lethal injection a man convicted of murdering an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. One of Lee’s lawyers, Ruth Friedman, said it was “beyond shameful that the government, in the end, carried out this …

Tennessee governor won’t intervene in execution
5 years, 7 months ago

Tennessee governor won’t intervene in execution

Associated Press  

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday announced he will not intervene in this week’s scheduled lethal injection of a Tennessee inmate who had undergone a religious conversion. “After a prayerful and deliberate consideration of Don Johnson’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the state of Tennessee …

Alabama inmate who wanted nitrogen spared lethal injection
5 years, 8 months ago

Alabama inmate who wanted nitrogen spared lethal injection

Associated Press  

ATMORE, Ala. — An Alabama inmate convicted in the 1991 sword-and-dagger slaying of a pastor was spared a lethal injection when his death warrant expired before a divided U.S. Supreme Court voted early Friday to let the execution proceed. Justice Neil Gorsuch’s said judges should guard against efforts to use challenges to the method of execution “as tools to interpose …

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