A series of strokes suffered last winter left Darrell Hines, a 40-year prisoner on Tennessee’s death row, with multiple physical and cognitive impairments. He can’t move his left arm, hand or leg. He can’t see out of his left eye or walk under his own power, and relies on a wheelchair when he’s not in bed. After the state’s bloody and embarrassing failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May, attorneys are asking Gov. Bill Lee to issue a reprieve before Hines’ Aug. 13 execution date.
Gov. Bill Lee issues one-year reprieve after emergency filing with Tennessee Supreme Court
“He has major neurological and cognitive impairments,” reads a letter signed by Hines’ federal defense team sent to Lee on June 22. “He is in constant pain. The prospect of executing such a profoundly disabled individual is horrifying.”
Hines’ defense team argues that his physical condition presents additional medical complications for a Tennessee Department of Correction staff that has recently squandered the public’s trust. In the letter — signed by federal public defenders Amy Harwell, Kit Thomas, Katherine Dix and Marshall Jensen, on letterhead from Dumaka Shabazz — Hines’ legal team requests a reprieve until TDOC can demonstrate that it is “capable of carrying out executions in accordance with the Constitution, state law, and its own protocol.” Only a successful execution might satisfy these conditions, forcing Lee into a paradox. It would also give the devoutly Christian governor a way to push Tennessee’s execution nightmare onto the desk of his successor.
Hines was convicted more than 40 years ago of murdering Katherine Jean Jenkins in Kingston Springs. In the fall of last year, the Tennessee Supreme Court included Hines’ execution date, Aug. 13, alongside three other inmates’ scheduled killings, all set during the final eight months of Gov. Bill Lee’s second term. Carruthers’ May 21 date was meant to be the first in this final push. Instead, Carruthers’ lethal injection process devolved into chaos as the state’s doctor failed to establish a proper intravenous line, resulting in dozens of puncture wounds for Carruthers in what his attorney likened to torture. Attorneys, advocates and national media have recounted the day’s horrors in detail.
Since taking office in 2018, Lee has presided over a historic period for the Tennessee Department of Correction. While other states have moved away from capital punishment (Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called for a death penalty abolition just days ago), Lee has presided over seven executions since taking office. During the same period, TDOC has faced legal and public scrutiny for ignoring its own lethal injection protocol and possessing insufficient medical expertise. The department’s public incompetence prompted Lee to initiate a moratorium on executions that lasted more than three years.
Shortly after the botched execution in May, Lee issued a one-year reprieve to Carruthers. Lee has not publicly responded to yesterday’s letter from attorneys regarding Hines’ Aug. 13 date.
