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State Attorney General Seeks Execution Dates for Nine Death Row Prisoners
By Steven Hale
Nashville Scene
Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery is asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to set execution dates for nine more men, including the four remaining death row prisoners from Nashville.
The request for more execution dates came without warning. Slatery’s office filed motions asking for the dates on Sept. 20 — the same day the AG announced he would challenge Nashville Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins’ decision to vacate the death sentence of Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman at the request of Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk. Slatery took aim at Watkins and Funk — both of whom are elected officials — in a press release announcing the legal challenge, calling the decision to drop
Abdur’Rahman’s death sentence “unlawful” and “unprecedented.” Funk said he stands by his position, while Abdur’Rahman’s attorney Bradley MacLean called the AG’s move “unprecedented” and said the state is “bound” by Watkins’ order.
The AG can seek execution dates for a death row prisoner once the prisoner has exhausted the three-tier appeals process. The state Supreme Court decides when the executions will take place. In February 2018, Slatery sought a slew of execution dates and asked for them to be scheduled in quick succession, citing concerns about the state’s ability to carry out lethal injections beyond June of that year. The state Supreme Court ultimately blocked the AG’s request for the rush of executions.
Excluding Abdur’Rahman — whose execution had been scheduled for April 16, 2020 — there are two more men scheduled to be executed in the coming months: Lee Hall on Dec. 5 and Nicholas Sutton on Feb. 20.
The men for whom the AG is seeking execution dates are below:
Byron Black (Davidson County), who was convicted for the 1987 murders of Angela Clay and her two daughters, Latoya and Lakeisha Clay.
Like the five men who have been executed since August 2018, many of the men above have a history of severe mental illness.
The Scene received this response from Assistant Federal Public Defender Kelley Henry:
We learned of the request for mass executions late yesterday after receiving the requests in the mail. Seven of the nine are represented by my office. All of the remaining Davidson county cases are included in the request. We were surprised by the request for mass executions. Each case is unique and represents a number of fundamental constitutional problems including innocence, racism, and severe mental illness. We will oppose the appointed Attorney General’s request.
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/...-row-prisoners
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It appears that Black will be the lead in ligation in the next batch. His attorneys noted that of the 9 people that were notified of an execution date, 5 of their counsels had either resigned or quit after Irick was executed.
Next date of any action is suppose to take place on the 30th.
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/node/5652130
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/sites/def..._extension.pdf
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December 30 is the deadline to respond to the motion to set execution dates. I'm assuming they dates will be set in January or February.
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Guessing the first new date will be in June or July next year then.
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At the time of the murders, Black was serving a serving a two-year sentence. After pleading guilty to malicious shooting of Bennie Clay. The ex husband and father of the victims in Dec of 86. This sentence is referred to as the "workhouse sentence".
The Defendant was the boyfriend of Angela Clay, who had separated from her husband, Bennie Clay, about a year before her death. Bennie Clay was the father of Latoya and Lakeisha. Bennie Clay testified that at the time of Angela Clay's death, he and Angela were attempting to reconcile, but the Defendant was an obstacle to the reconciliation. He further testified that Angela began a relationship with the Defendant after their separation and that at times she was seeing both the Defendant and himself. In December, 1986, the Defendant and Bennie Clay had an altercation during a dispute over Angela. As Bennie Clay was returning to his car, the Defendant shot at him. One shot hit the car, another hit Clay in the right foot, and another shot hit him in the back of his left arm. The bullet that went through his left arm lodged under his collar bone. Clay testified that he started running up the street and the Defendant chased him, continuing to shoot. Clay was finally unable *171 to run any farther. He fell down, and the Defendant stood over him and had cocked the gun when Angela Clay ran up to the Defendant and pushed him away. Angela then took Bennie Clay to the hospital, where he remained for seven days. The Defendant pled guilty to the shooting and received the workhouse sentence, which included weekend furloughs.
https://law.justia.com/cases/tenness...-2d-166-2.html
All persons convicted of a felony, whose imprisonment has been by the jury commuted to imprisonment in the county jail, shall be compelled to work out the term of imprisonment at hard labor in the county workhouse in the county where convicted. T.C.A. § 40-23-105.
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Tennessee sets two more executions for 2020, including man sentenced in Memphis in 1987
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee on Monday set two new execution dates, days after putting to death its seventh inmate in the past year and a half.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ordered an Oct. 8 execution date for Byron Black and a Dec. 3 execution date for Pervis Payne.
Black was convicted by a Nashville court of murdering his girlfriend Angela Clay and her daughters Latoya, 9, and Lakesha, 6, at their home in 1988. Prosecutors said he shot the three during a jealous rage. Black was on work release at the time for shooting and injuring Clay’s estranged husband.
Payne was sentenced to death in Memphis for the 1987 fatal stabbing of Charisse Christopher and her daughter, Lacie Jo, in what prosecutors called a “drug-induced frenzy.” Christopher’s son, Nicholas, who was 3 at the time, was also stabbed but survived. Payneclaimed at trial that he saw someone else leave the apartment and he got blood on him when he touched the victims after they had been stabbed.
Attorneys for the inmates have argued that both men are intellectually disabled and mentally ill. The court has ordered a competency hearing for Black to determine whether he is competent to be executed.
Two other executions are already scheduled for 2020, so if all go forward as planned, Tennessee will execute five inmate this year, something it hasn’t done since 1948, according to execution records from the Tennessee Department of Correction.
https://wreg.com/news/tennessee-sets...mphis-in-1987/
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What are the chances he plays the race card?
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Tennessee death row inmate seeks stay citing COVID-19 disruption
Attorneys for a man convicted of killing a woman and her 2 daughters asked the Tennessee Supreme Court on Wednesday to delay his October execution, citing disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Their motion said they've been unable to conduct the investigations required in the months leading up to the scheduled execution of Byron Black.
"Mr. Black's counsel cannot properly prepare for his competency to be executed hearing required to take place during the middle of August. Nor can counsel prepare for clemency proceedings which must take place simultaneously," the motion read.
Black was convicted in 1988 for killing Angela Clay and her 2 daughters, Latoya and Lakeisha.
The request comes 2 weeks after the Tennessee Supreme Court delayed the June execution of Oscar Smith on similar grounds. Texas has put off the executions of John Hummel, Tracy Beatty, Fabian Hernandez, Billy Wardlow and Randall Mays.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Kelley Henry represents both Tennessee men.
Beyond the delay, Black's lawyers are seeking to have his execution stayed based on grounds he's not competent for execution. They said he has brain damage and schizophrenia, and an IQ of 67.
They said the experts needed to examine Black in order to hold a competency hearing can't travel to Tennessee because of COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
Death penalty experts warn the pandemic could disrupt U.S. executions for months to come.
Robert Dunham, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, told UPI in March there's a lot of legal work that happens once a death row inmate is put on the calendar for execution. In some cases, witnesses don't come forward to provide evidence or testimony until there's a date.
"It would be irresponsible and potentially deadly for the defense teams to be sending out investigators," he said.
(source: United Press International)
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Tennessee AG opposes push to delay executions due to virus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s attorney general is opposing motions to delay executions scheduled in August and October due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In state Supreme Court filings this week, Attorney General Herbert Slatery wrote that attorneys for Byron Black and Harold Nichols are speculating about future public health conditions in their delay requests.
Slatery wrote that the court can take whatever actions necessary if public health circumstances worsen.
Attorneys for the inmates have argued that the pandemic is impeding their ability to do critical work for clemency requests and court proceedings.
Nichols’ execution is scheduled for Aug. 4 and Black’s is slated for Oct. 8.
The state Supreme Court previously delayed inmate Oscar Smith’s execution from June to February 2021 due to the coronavirus. Texas has already delayed six executions due to the outbreak.
Slatery wrote that those were all scheduled from March to early June. Additionally, the state Supreme Court's order currently anticipates most Tennessee in-court proceedings to resume by June and jury trials to restart in July, Slatery added.
"If citizens will be called upon to serve as jurors and return to their places of employment in August, there is no reason Nichols’s execution should not also proceed as scheduled," Slatery wrote.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/art...e-15256165.php
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