Tennessee officials on Friday announced a new way the state could resume executions after the previous one, scheduled for spring 2022, was abruptly halted, but executions won't resume immediately.
This comes two and a half years after the state abruptly halted the execution of inmate Oscar Smith and admitted that corrections officials had not followed their own execution procedures, according to reports. Associated Press.
Smith, now 74, was scheduled to be executed for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and teenage sons, but the execution was halted.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections announced Friday that it has “completed a revised lethal injection protocol using the single agent pentobarbital.”
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A stretcher in the execution chamber of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Details regarding the new protocol have not been made public.
Kelly Henry, director of the federal public defender's habeas division, which represents many of the state's death row inmates, said the announcement was “notable for its lack of detail.”
“The secrecy shrouding Tennessee's death penalty protocols allowed TDOC to carry out executions in violation of its own protocols while simultaneously misrepresenting its actions to the courts and the public,” Henry said. told the Associated Press.
The decision to suspend Smith's execution was made at the last minute after Henry requested the necessary purity and potency test results for the lethal injection drug that was to be used to put him to death. It was.
Later documents revealed that at least two people were aware that the lethal injection drugs the state intended to use had not undergone the required testing. An independent investigation later found the state had not followed its own lethal injection process since it was revised in 2018.
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Federal public defender Kelly Henry speaks about Tennessee death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith during a news conference Thursday, April 28, 2022, in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. (AP)
Corrections Secretary Frank Strada took office in January 2023, but the department's top prosecutors and inspector generals were fired the same month.
“I am confident that the lethal injection process will proceed in accordance with department policy and state law,” Strada said Friday.
Henry said death row inmates are currently pursuing a federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee's previous lethal injection protocol, which used three different drugs in sequence.
The plaintiffs put their case on hold pending the state's review and revision of its procedures. The inmates' agreement with the state gives them 90 days to review the new protocol and decide whether to amend their charges.
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Lethal injection room in Alabama. Photographed October 7, 2002 at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. (AP)
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Henry requested that no new execution date be set while the trial continues.
He also highlighted that the U.S. Department of Justice is currently considering the use of pentobarbital in executions.
“Scientific data shows that pentobarbital alone causes pulmonary edema, which can be compared to waterboarding,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
