Nick Sutton has been executed in the electric chair. His electrocution comes 35 years after he was sentenced to death for the fatal stabbing of fellow prisoner Carl Estep, who’d threatened his life amid a drug dispute.
Sutton's last words were: "I'm just grateful to be a servant of God, and I'm looking forward to being in his presence — and I thank you." He was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. He was 58. None of Sutton's family was present at his execution.
Sutton was 23 when he was convicted of Estep’s murder in 1985. He was charged in the killing along with two co-defendants — one was acquitted, and the other has since been released on parole. Sutton had already been convicted of three murders at the time and was in prison serving a life sentence for killing his grandmother Dorothy when he was 18 years old. He'd also been convicted of murdering Charles Almon and John Large in North Carolina.
Like many death row prisoners, Sutton’s childhood was marked by abuse, neglect, substance abuse and mental illness. In his clemency petition, his attorneys argued that he’d gone “from a life-taker to a life-saver.” His supporters included family members of some of his victims, former jurors and three former prison officers who said Sutton had saved their lives.
Gov. Bill Lee denied his request for clemency earlier this week, making Sutton the fourth man to be executed since Lee took office in January 2019.
Additional reporting on this story was done by D. Patrick Rodgers.
