Tennessee officials announced on Friday a new method that could allow the state to resume executions after the last scheduled execution was halted in the spring of 2022. The state had abruptly halted the execution of inmate Oscar Smith two and a half years ago and admitted that correction officials were not following their own execution protocols. Smith, who is now 74, was scheduled to be executed for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife and her teenage sons before the execution was called off. The Tennessee Department of Correction announced that it had completed its revision of the lethal injection protocol and will now utilize the single drug pentobarbital. However, executions will not resume immediately as additional details about the new protocol were not made publicly available.
Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit representing many of the state’s death row inmates, criticized the lack of detail provided in the announcement. She highlighted the secrecy surrounding the execution protocol in Tennessee, which she claimed had allowed the department to perform executions in violation of its own protocol while misleading the courts and the public. The decision to halt Smith’s execution came after Henry requested the results of required purity and potency tests for the lethal injection drugs intended for use. Documents later revealed that the lethal injection drugs had not undergone necessary testing, and an independent review found that the state had not followed its lethal injection process since its revision in 2018.
Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, who took over in January 2023, expressed confidence that the lethal injection process can now proceed in compliance with departmental policy and state laws. However, Henry noted that death row inmates have an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s previous lethal injection protocol, which used three different drugs in series. The plaintiffs agreed to put the case on hold pending the state’s review and revision of the lethal injection procedure, giving them 90 days to review the new protocol and decide whether to amend their complaint. Henry requested that no new execution dates be set while the court case is ongoing, and she raised concerns about the use of pentobarbital in executions, citing its potential side effects.
The announcement of the revised lethal injection protocol in Tennessee comes amidst ongoing scrutiny and legal challenges surrounding the state’s execution procedures. With the federal government reviewing the use of pentobarbital in executions, concerns have been raised about the potential impact of using a single drug for lethal injections. Henry, representing many of the state’s death row inmates, has been vocal in criticizing the lack of transparency and detail provided in the new protocol. The state’s previous failures to follow its own execution procedures have raised questions about the process and the oversight of executions in Tennessee. The outcome of the federal lawsuit challenging the previous lethal injection protocol remains to be seen, as inmates have been granted time to review and potentially amend their complaint in light of the revised procedure.
