The Tennessee Supreme Court has scheduled execution dates for four inmates, revisiting a crucial decision after a near-execution in 2022. Oscar Smith, who was mere minutes away from execution before a late intervention by Governor Bill Lee, is among those affected. The governor issued a stay when Smith’s lawyer, Kelley Henry, questioned the absence of mandatory purity and potency tests for the lethal injection drug planned for use on Smith. An oversight revealed that a necessary test was overlooked.
Subsequent investigations showed that since 2018, the required full testing had not been completed for the drugs used on any of the seven inmates previously executed in Tennessee. In a courtroom admission, the state Attorney General’s Office acknowledged that key officials responsible for Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs had “incorrectly testified” under oath about compliance with testing protocols.
In December, the Tennessee Department of Correction introduced a revised execution protocol employing the single drug pentobarbital. This adjustment prompted the court to reschedule Smith’s execution. Smith was convicted for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife, Judith Smith, and her teenage sons, Jason and Chad Burnett, in their Nashville residence.
The court has also rescheduled executions for three other inmates who were in the same predicament in 2022 when the governor issued temporary stays. Those inmates are Donald Middlebrooks, Byron Black, and Harold Nichols. All four individuals were convicted before January 1999, affording them the choice between lethal injection and the electric chair. However, attorney Henry argues that all four executions should be halted due to an ongoing federal lawsuit.
This lawsuit challenges Tennessee’s previous execution method, which utilized a combination of three drugs. Prior to the state’s review and adjustment of its execution procedures, Henry had suspended her legal challenge, contingent on a 90-day review of the new protocol with the option to amend the complaint if necessary. Middlebrooks is a plaintiff in this lawsuit, and an agreement exists to avoid opposing a stay in his case.
Henry believes this agreement should also apply to the other inmates with newly set dates. She has criticized the latest execution protocol for its “lack of transparency and detail.” Besides the four inmates now slated for execution, Tennessee’s Attorney General has also requested the court to schedule execution dates for five more individuals: Kevin Burns, Jon Hall, Kennath Henderson, Anthony Hines, and William Rogers.
