The Tennessee State Senate gaveled out of session in April, but two months later, nearly half the chamber has aligned against Tennessee executions. Weeks away from Tennessee’s next scheduled lethal injection, all six Democrats and nine of the body's Republicans favor an immediate pause on state executions after the state’s second failed attempted killing in four years.
Gov. Bill Lee issues one-year reprieve after emergency filing with Tennessee Supreme Court
In May, a state doctor botched the lethal injection meant to kill Tony Carruthers, bloodying the death row prisoner with puncture wounds in an episode Carruthers’ attorney likened to torture. The failed execution was a national embarrassment for Tennessee. Carruthers’ attorneys have pursued legal recourse against Gov. Bill Lee, including their own appeal for a pause on executions. Tennessee is scheduled to execute Darrell Hines in August. Citing Hines' physical and cognitive impairment following a stroke, his lawyers asked Lee to grant a reprieve for the “profoundly disabled” prisoner in a letter sent June 22.
Nine Republican senators now “respectfully but firmly” call on Lee to commission an independent review of the failed execution, order independent drug testing and publicize both to repair the state’s credibility. Printed on the letterhead of state Sen. Tom Hatcher (R-Maryville), fellow Sens. Becky Massey, Ken Yager, Paul Bailey, Joey Hensley, Dawn White, Richard Briggs, Ferrell Haile and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson join Hatcher in a rare rebuke of the state government’s top elected official. Lee is a term-limited lame-duck governor set to be replaced in November.
“Repeated failures of this kind do not advance justice; they obstruct it, prolong the suffering of victims’ families, and hand the opponents of capital punishment their most effective argument against a penalty Tennesseans have chose to keep,” the letter states. “Because we support the lawful administration of the death penalty, we cannot accept its incompetent administration.”
The group also references a 2022 scandal in which the Tennessee Department of Correction was found violating its own chemical testing protocols in the hours before the scheduled execution of Oscar Smith. This debacle prompted Lee to pause executions and order a review, ultimately leading to another lethal injection protocol, which TDOC partially published last year under public pressure. Until the state demonstrates better preparedness, they say, TDOC should not attempt another execution.
Three executions are scheduled to take place before Lee leaves office
Signatories make sure to repeat their support for capital punishment throughout the letter. On this matter, the GOP faction splits from Democrats in the chamber who otherwise favor an execution pause.
“I would have signed onto that letter, but it starts by saying, ‘We’re for the death penalty,’” says Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Democrat, reiterating her opposition to capital punishment. “The outrage over Tennessee's recent execution is justified, but it’s ironic that some of the same people who are now outraged by the state's failure to carry out an execution properly have spent years fighting to expand the death penalty.”
The opposition party’s small Senate minority — six Democrats exclusively from Shelby and Davidson counties — broadly opposes the death penalty and has spoken out against it on multiple occasions during the Lee administration.
Lee, a devout Christian, has not responded to his party's appeal or Hines' attorney letter as of publication.
