Tennessee Supreme Court Denies State's Request for Rush of Executions

The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied Attorney General Herbert Slatery's request for eight new execution dates before June 1, although the court did schedule two men to die later this year. 

That brings the total number of men set to be executed in Tennessee this year to five: James Hawkins, Billy Ray Irick, Edmund Zagorski, David Earl Miller and Sedrick Clayton. At least two of those men — Hawkins and Clayton — still have appeals remaining, meaning their executions are likely to be delayed. 

Zagorski, who was convicted in the 1983 murders of two men, is set to die Oct. 11. Miller, who was convicted for the 1981 murder of a mentally disabled woman, is set to die on Dec. 6. 

In January, the state announced its intention to resume executions in the state despite internal warnings that its new lethal injection protocol could cause pain and suffering. Thirty-three death row prisoners have filed suit challenging the new protocol, a three-drug cocktail consisting of midazolam, vecuronium and potassium chloride.

Midazolam has been used in several "botched" executions, including Oklahoma's horrific execution of Clayton Lockett in 2014. 

Slatery had requested the slew of executions before June 1 because, he said, the state's ability to carry out executions by lethal injection "after June 1, 2018, is uncertain due to the ongoing difficulty in obtaining the necessary lethal injection chemicals," 

The state can use the electric chair for executions if it can't obtain the chemicals for lethal injection.