Additional Coverage:
- Tennessee man is executed for killing his wife and her 2 sons, 3 years after last-minute reprieve (nbcnews.com)
Nashville, Tenn. — Oscar Smith, 75, was executed by lethal injection Thursday morning for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife, Judith Smith, and her two teenage sons, Jason and Chad Burnett. Smith maintained his innocence until the end, telling witnesses, “I didn’t kill her,” and “Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn’t work.”
Smith was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting the victims in their Nashville home. Although a Davidson County judge recently denied requests to reopen his case based on new DNA evidence found on a murder weapon, Smith continued to claim he was wrongly convicted. He recently spoke with the Associated Press, focusing on his belief that the court system had failed him.
Prosecutors presented evidence of Smith’s history of violence and threats against his family. Two of Smith’s coworkers testified that he had asked them to kill Judith Smith.
He had also taken out life insurance policies on all three victims. And chillingly, a 911 call from the night of the murders captured one of the boys yelling, “Frank, no!” – Frank being Smith’s middle name and the one he commonly used.
Judith Smith’s siblings, Mike Robirds and Terri Osborne, spoke after the execution, sharing their grief and emphasizing the devastating impact of domestic violence. Osborne urged anyone in a dangerous domestic situation to seek help immediately.
Darlene Kimbrough, who befriended Smith during her visits to another death row inmate, described him as at peace with his impending death. She had recently sent him a card expressing her care and was surprised to receive a thank-you letter just two days before his execution.
Smith’s execution follows a five-year hiatus in Tennessee due to the COVID-19 pandemic and procedural issues within the Tennessee Department of Corrections. In 2022, Smith was granted a last-minute reprieve by Governor Bill Lee after it was discovered that the lethal injection drugs hadn’t been properly tested. A subsequent investigation revealed widespread problems with the state’s execution procedures.
Revised protocols issued in December have been criticized for their lack of specific testing requirements and removal of the mandate for drugs to be sourced from a licensed pharmacist. Smith and other death row inmates have filed a lawsuit challenging these new protocols, with a trial scheduled for January.