Nine death row inmates filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court on Friday, alleging Tennessee’s new lethal injection protocol could cause them “extreme pain and suffering” due to a drug approved by the state following the completion of a years-long review ordered by Governor Bill Lee.
An attorney representing nine death row inmates stated on Friday that the new drug Tennessee announced last December it would authorize for use in lethal injections, pentobarbital, “is excruciatingly painful,” and was selected by state officials “only because they were able to get their hands” on the substance.
The lawsuit claims that medical examinations of those given a lethal injection containing pentobarbital are at risk of experiencing “a torturous death,” with greater risk if the supply is “obtained, stored, handled, and/or administered incorrectly.”
It is further alleged by the death row inmates that pentobarital results in a death that, “is not simply painful or uncomfortable,” but involves “a sensation of suffocating or drowning that has been likened by experts to the sensation intentionally induced by the practice of waterboarding.”
Executions were previously paused in Tennessee in 2022, when Lee confirmed his belief “it is an appropriate punishment for heinous crimes,” but nonetheless ordered the Tennessee Department of Corrections to complete a review of the state’s procedures before conducting new executions.
This resulted in a nearly three-year delay to the execution of Oscar Smith, who was scheduled for execution prior to Lee’s review, and is now among the nine plaintiffs suing with allegations of the pain caused by Tennessee’s new procedures.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1990 for killing his estranged wife, Judy Smith, and her children Chad Burnett and Jason Burnett. He reportedly shot one of his wife’s children to death before fatally stabbing the other.
Bloody fingerprints matching Smith’s were reportedly found on a knife and gun located at the scene, and the evidence against him has led to refusals to intervene in his case from both the U.S. Supreme Court and Lee’s office.
Smith was among the four inmates assigned new execution dates following the adoption of the new procedures, and is currently scheduled to be executed on May 22.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
They could always drop a 2,000 pound anvil on them, a al Roadrunner cartoons.