Gov. Bill Lee is declining to give death row inmates a reprieve as they challenge the state’s new protocol for lethal injections.(Photo by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)
With a day left before Tennessee resumes executions, Gov. Bill Lee is declining to give death row inmates a reprieve as they challenge the state’s new protocol for lethal injections.
Attorneys for Oscar Smith, who is to be put to death Thursday for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her two sons, said the governor denied the request this week of death row prisoners even though a trial on the execution process won’t be held until January 2026. Inmates are raising questions about the protocol’s constitutionality and say “serious questions” remain about the safety and efficacy of the lethal chemicals and the execution team’s qualifications…