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Thread: Tennessee Capital Punishment News

  1. #81
    oldmaninredhat
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    The inmates who lost in the lower court have an appeal before the TN Supreme Court. Oral arguments are schduled for July with a decision this fall. At that point this series of cases will be finished.

  2. #82
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Tenn. Supreme Court to hear lethal injection appeal

    The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week on an appeal of the state's lethal injection method for death row inmates.

    The court ruled in August that lethal injections were legal, dismissing the argument that the drugs created a substantial risk of a lingering death and serious harm in violation of the Eighth Amendment, according to legal documents.

    Those hearings are scheduled to be on Wednesday.

    A total of 33 death row inmates in Tennessee are among the plaintiffs in the case.

    http://www.wcyb.com/news/tennessee/b...peal/104309986
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  3. #83
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Tennessee justices question death row attorneys on lawsuit

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Supreme Court justices peppered lawyers trying to block the state's lethal injection protocol with questions on Thursday, challenging them to declare some other execution method they would consider acceptable under the law.

    Lawyers representing the death row inmates argued that they shouldn't have to suggest alternatives as part of their legal challenge, which claims the state's one-drug lethal injection method is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment because it's likely to inflict extreme pain and can cause a lingering death.

    The justices appeared to disagree, citing a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling they said requires challengers of execution methods to suggest alternatives.

    "The Supreme Court has said repeatedly that the death penalty is constitutional in this country," said Justice Roger A. Page. "Doesn't it follow there has to be some constitutional method to carry it out?"

    "The proper test does not involve the showing of an alternate method," plaintiffs' attorney Steve Kissinger insisted.

    Justice Sharon Lee said that under the plaintiffs' argument, "it sounds like there would be no protocol which would meet the standards."

    Tennessee has not executed an inmate since 2009 because of legal challenges and problems in obtaining lethal injection drugs. State lawmakers passed a law to allow the state to return to using the electric chair if lethal injections can no longer be administered.

    Death row inmates sued after the state moved away from its three-drug cocktail to a one-drug method using a powerful anesthetic called pentobarbital. After pentobarbital's only commercial producer restricted its distribution to prevent its use in executions, Tennessee decided to have a compound pharmacy mix pentobarbital to order.

    Compounded drugs are small, specially mixed batches of drugs that are not subject to the same federal scrutiny as regular doses.

    The inmates' lawyers said this work-around is unethical and illegal.

    "It is not a medical procedure; it is not done in the ordinary course of the medical practice; it violates the DEA's statute; it violates the Tennessee licensing provisions," said Michael Passino, an attorney for the inmates. "It violates the ethical obligation of the physician."

    State attorney Jennifer Smith said the current lethal injection standards meet constitutional requirements.

    "A prisoner is not entitled to a painless death, but to a death that is not cruel, that is not unnecessarily painful," she said.

    Justice Lee asked what Tennessee can do to avoid the problems other states have experienced with lethal injections.

    "How do we know our executions won't be botched?" Lee asked.

    "We don't," said Smith. "Executions, like any human endeavor are subject to error."

    "We can't be 100 percent sure that there will not be a problem with an execution. But that's not what the constitution requires," she said. "The constitution doesn't guarantee a perfect process."

    http://m.valleymorningstar.com/artic....html?mode=jqm

    Looks like they aren't buying this nonsense. A 1 drug pentobarbital injection is perfectly fine. TN will be the new MO
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  4. #84
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Bill aims to send death penalty appeals straight to state Supreme Court

    By Stacey Barchenger and Jake Lowary
    The Tennessean

    A bill filed Friday in the state House aims to eliminate a step in death penalty appeals, sending cases directly to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

    Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, filed the bill that, if passed, could expedite death sentence appeals. Lamberth said Tennessee is 1 of fewer than 5 states in the country that requires midlevel or intermediate state appellate courts to hear death penalty cases.

    "To me, if all these other states seem to feel like this is a good and just process, then I think it would very well for Tennessee as well," he said.

    People who receive a death sentence here have automatic appeals to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and then a mandatory review at the Tennessee Supreme Court. Because of that process, a decision on the sentence is not final until the state's top court hears the case, Lamberth said.

    There also are federal appeals, on which the bill would have no impact. Together the appeals process can extend for years or decades.

    "I think it's just more fair to the defendants and the victims' families to get a decision from that top court as soon as possible," Lamberth said.

    Lamberth said he "couldn't promise" that the new process would shorten the time between conviction and execution. It also has the potential, he said, to more quickly exonerate defendants who were wrongly convicted or allow new trials to happen sooner.

    There are 63 people on death row, according to the Department of Correction, only 1 of whom is a woman.

    Tennessee allows the death penalty via lethal injection and a secondary method, the electric chair. The last execution was in 2009 and since then carrying it out has been on hold because of legal challenges.

    The Tennessee Supreme Court is now considering whether the state's single drug lethal injection protocol is constitutional. At oral arguments in October the justices had questions about better alternatives, but lawyers for the inmates said they did not have to provide one.

    The court has not yet ruled on the issue. If it upholds the current law, it could green-light executions to resume in Tennessee.

    http://www.tennessean.com/story/news...ourt/96244008/

  5. #85
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Proposed legislation aims to expedite death row cases in Tennessee

    The Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court visited in Kingsport Tuesday, and we asked him about Tennessee's death penalty.

    Chief Justice Jeff Bivins is a Kingsport native and an East Tennessee State University graduate.

    We wanted to find out about death penalty cases, because they are notorious for lingering in Tennessee.

    News 5's Jessica Griffith got to talk to Chief Justice Bivins...

    There is proposed legislation that would take death penalty appeals directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing the court of appeals.

    I wanted to find out if Chief Justice Jeff Bivins thinks this would expedite cases of death row inmates.

    Right now, the Tennessee Department of Corrections lists more than 60 inmates on death row in the state.

    16 of those were convicted in East Tennessee.

    The last execution was in 2009.

    Chief Justice Bivins says an average death row inmate has been there for more than 20 years.

    A spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Corrections says it costs nearly $110 a day to keep an offender on death row.

    "It is a very high cost. But it's something that the people of Tennessee decided that through the members of the legislation that they do want to maintain the death penalty," Bivins said.

    The long length of these cases is a reason new legislation is proposed to have direct death row appeals go straight to the Supreme Court.

    It would not involve post conviction appeals.

    Bivins tells us there are pros and cons to this legislation.

    "It would probably speed up the process by 6 months or so. But it also is helpful to have the court of criminal appeals review it because they are able to narrow down the issues and it's another set of eyes on that," he said.

    He also says the supreme court has only had 5 of those cases over the last 5 years.

    "It's not that big of a case load for us," he said.

    While the court's goal is to be efficient, Bivins says they can't work too fast, that they overlook something.

    "It's an incredibly important decision. It's a critical decision. It's a life or death decision, literally."

    Chief Justice Bivins tells us a case pending in court now might help free up some death row cases so they can be set for execution.

    It's a challenge to the lethal injection protocol.

    Right now, Tennessee uses a single drug protocol, as a way to be more efficient and humane.

    Bivins says a decision will come down in about a month.

    If the decision upholds the protocol, he says it would free up a number of cases so they can be set for execution.

    http://www.wcyb.com/news/tennessee/k...ssee/366133521
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  6. #86
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Edited

    Tennessee doesn't have drugs needed to carry out lethal injection

    The Tennessee prison system doesn't have the drug needed to carry out a lethal injection, and ongoing issues with accessibility of the drugs call in to question the likelihood Tennessee could obtain those drugs when the next execution is scheduled.

    But if executions resume in Tennessee — the last was in 2009 — the state will be ready to administer a lethal injection, said Tennessee Department of Correction General Counsel Debbie Inglis.

    Carrying out death sentences has stalled, as the state's top judges weigh a challenge to Tennessee's protocol, which calls for the state to use the drug pentobarbital for its injections.

    Inglis, who also serves as a deputy commissioner of administration for the department, told reporters Thursday after a tour of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville that the department "anticipates we could carry out" an execution by lethal injection as needed. She said that means the state could obtain the drug closer to the time of the execution. However, Inglis didn't elaborate on how the department would actually get those drugs.

    "We cannot discuss how we will procure the lethal injection chemicals," department spokeswoman Neysa Taylor said, in response to follow up questions emailed Thursday.

    The fact the department does not have the required drug is key because it means the state could instead turn to its backup method. Tennessee is one of only two states in the country that allows for execution by electric chair if drugs for a lethal injection are not available, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The other state is Oklahoma, which also allows for execution via nitrogen gas.

    But the Tennessee Supreme Court has suggested there has to be a way to carry out executions because court precedent has held the death sentence constitutional. In October, the court heard a legal challenge to the state's current lethal-injection protocol. More than 30 condemned inmates brought the legal challenge, saying the use of only pentobarbital creates the risk of a lingering, or drawn-out, death. That case has forced the state to unschedule executions and put them on hold.

    The court's ruling, which could happen at any time, may lead to executions being scheduled again as soon as this year.

    All executions are carried out at Riverbend, the only prison in the state that has a death row for male inmates. There are currently 61 inmates, 60 men and one woman, on death row in Tennessee.

    http://www.wbir.com/news/crime/tenne...tion/419454976
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  7. #87
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    March 28, 2017

    Tennessee Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of State's Lethal Injection Protocol

    The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the written protocol by which the Tennessee Department of Correction carries out an execution by lethal injection.

    The plaintiffs in this matter, each of whom have been convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death, brought a declaratory judgment action in the trial court challenging the constitutionality of the lethal injection protocol under both the United States and Tennessee Constitutions. This protocol was adopted on September 27, 2013, and provided that inmates who had been sentenced to death were to be executed by injection of a lethal dose of the drug, pentobarbital. The trial court conducted a lengthy evidentiary hearing and eventually denied the plaintiffs relief.

    The plaintiffs appealed the trial court’s decision, and the Tennessee Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction over the matter upon the defendants’ filing of a motion to accept jurisdiction. The plaintiffs argued before the Tennessee Supreme Court that the lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional because it creates a substantial risk of serious harm and lingering death and that the trial court erred in dismissing their claim because the protocol requires the State to violate federal drug laws.

    In the unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins, the Court determined that the plaintiffs failed to establish that the lethal injection protocol, on its face, violates constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. In so holding, the Court upheld the constitutionality of the protocol under both the United States and Tennessee Constitutions. Additionally, the Court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claim that the protocol requires the State to violate federal drug laws because the plaintiffs had no cause of action under the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801-904 (2012). The Court noted that “[c]learly, the federal government does not consider those of its own executions that are conducted by lethal injection to violate a regulatory scheme for the prescription and use of controlled substances” and declined to construe the Controlled Substances Act in a manner that was inconsistent with the federal government’s interpretation.

    To read the Court’s opinion in Stephen Michael West, et al. v. Derrick D. Schofield, et al., authored by Chief Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins, go to the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.

    https://www.tncourts.gov/press/2017/...ction-protocol
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  8. #88
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    At least 9 execution dates loom for Tennessee death row inmates

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – As many as nine execution dates for Tennessee Death Row inmates could be set soon, say experts who follow the cases.

    This follows a ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court late last month that upheld the protocol for lethal injection, which is the state’s primary method of execution.

    Lawyers for death row inmates hope the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually take up the lethal injection on appeal, but a spokesperson for the Tennessee justices says he expects them to set those dates with “no idea when they will do that.”

    Stacy Rector of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is one of those who thinks the justices could possibly act at any time.

    “The court could set at least nine execution dates” she told News 2 with cases that for now have exhausted appeals.

    There are currently 60 men and one woman on Tennessee’s Death Row.

    Thirty-one are white, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction, along with 28 who are black, one Hispanic, and one Asian.

    Tennessee’s last execution occurred in 2009 when the state executed Cecil Johnson by lethal injection for the 1980 murders of three at a Nashville convenience store.

    There is a state law that if lethal injection is held up by the courts, the electric chair can be used for executions.

    The last time it was used was 2007 when Daryl Holton of Bedford County, who was convicted of killing four of his own children, requested that he die by electric chair.

    http://wate.com/2017/04/24/at-least-...h-row-inmates/
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  9. #89
    Moderator Dave from Florida's Avatar
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    This case, West vs Schofield finally goes to conference at SCOTUS on November 21st.

  10. #90
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Tennessee warned about use of controversial drug combination for lethal injections

    By Dave Boucher
    The Tennessean

    The drugs are supposed to put a death row inmate to sleep before stopping the inmate's lungs and heart.

    However, controversies around the country show a three-drug combination Tennessee is prepared to use as it resumes executions in 2018 may leave witnesses scarred and death row offenders in pain — and alive.

    Documents obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee show the state has a new protocol for what drugs it will use to put inmates to death. A supplier of those drugs also warned the state they may not actually stop inmates from feeling pain before they die, according to emails also obtained.

    The issues already prompted a legal challenge and will likely spur death penalty critics to characterize use of the drugs as unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

    Lethal injection is the primary means of carrying out the death penalty in Tennessee, although the electric chair is also legal. The state had used pentobarbital, a barbituate, but manufacturers have largely stopped selling the drug to anyone using it for executions.

    In 2017, the general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Correction said the state did not have the drugs needed to carry out an execution but could get them if they needed.

    On Thursday, after the Tennessee Supreme Court announced it had scheduled three executions, the department said it has the necessary drugs.

    The documents and emails point to the department's inability to find pentobarbital. It is instead relying on the easier-to-obtain but far more controversial three-drug mixture used in other states.

    The first drug, midazolam, is supposed to put an inmate in a state akin to sleep. The second, vercuronium bromide, stops the inmate's lungs. The third, potassium chloride, stops the heart.

    The problem in executions carried out in Oklahoma, Arizona, Ohio and elsewhere is the midazolam in some cases has failed to put the inmate to sleep or stop them from feeling pain.

    A legal filing from attorneys defending death row inmates pointed to the emails and new lethal injection protocol as a reason the state supreme court should delay any executions.

    "Tennessee deliberately chose to revise its execution protocol to include as the first drug, midazolam, despite knowledge of the substantial harm that drug will cause. It is the most controversial protocol ever adopted by the state," the legal filing states.

    As noted in the legal filing, a supplier pointed out these problems to Tennessee prison officials in September.

    "Here is my concern with midazolam...it does not elicit strong analgesic effects. The subjects may be able to feel pain from the administration of the second and third drugs. Potassium chloride especially," wrote the supplier in an email.

    "It may not be a huge concern but can open the door to some scrutiny on your end."

    A department spokeswoman did not immediately answers questions Friday about the protocol.

    James Hawkins, a 41-year-old Shelby County man convicted in 2011 of killing the mother of his three children, is scheduled to die May 9.

    Billy Ray Irick, a 59-year-old Knox County man convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl is set to be executed Aug. 9.

    Sedrick Clayton, a 34-year-old Shelby County man convicted of a triple murder in 2014, is scheduled to die Nov. 28.

    Hawkins and Clayton have yet to exhaust their legal appeals, so it's likely their executions will be delayed. Irick, who's been on death row in Nashville for more than three decades, has fewer legal options.

    https://www.tennessean.com/story/new...ns/1046487001/

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