A trial over the constitutionality of Tennessee's preferred method of executing prisoners is entering its second week. Attorneys for 33 death row inmates have so far presented expert witnesses to discuss technical aspects of the procedure. That includes the role of compounding pharmacists in producing the lethal injection drug.

The inmates' attorneys are trying to show the compounded form of the drug is likely to cause a condemned inmate to suffer extreme pain. Another expert witness suggested that someone given a high dose of the drug could all of sudden recover from a death-like coma.

Attorneys for the state have argued much of the testimony is irrelevant. They say inmates are not guaranteed a painless death.

Execution methods in Tennessee (Brief History from TN Dept. of Corrections)

Capital punishment has existed in Tennessee off and on throughout its history, although the methods have changed. Prior to 1913, the method of execution was hanging and there are few records of those executed by this method. Electrocution became the method of execution in 1916 after a two-year hiatus from the death penalty from 1913-1915. Then there was a period in the state when death row was empty. From 1972 until 1978, there were no offenders sentenced to death in Tennessee because of the U.S. Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional. When the death penalty became legal in the state again in 1978, those offenders sitting on death row from 1960 to 1978 had their sentenced commuted mostly to life.

In 1998, the state legislature added lethal injection giving those offenders committing their crimes before January 1, 1999 the choice of electrocution or lethal injection. Legislation enacted in March 2000 specifies lethal injection as the primary method of execution. Offenders who committed their offense and were sentenced to death prior to January 1, 1999 may request electrocution.

When capital punishment was reinstated in 1916, records were kept of those sentenced to death by the warden in an "official ledger" that accounted the name, crime, and the time of death of the 125 executed in Tennessee. From 1916 to 1960, all executions took place at the Tennessee State Penitentiary located in Nashville. Tennessee's first execution in nearly 40 years took place April 19, 2000 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution where Robert Glen Coe was executed by lethal injection.

On February 1, 2007 Governor Bredesen issued an executive order directing the TDOC to review the manner in which the death penalty is administered. All executions were put on hold. On April 30, the department delivered revised death penalty protocols to Governor Bredesen. The moratorium was lifted on May 2, 2007.

On September 12, 2007 Daryl Keith Holton became the first person to be executed by electrocution since 1960.

Source:

Partner Station WMSR
TN Dept. of Corrections