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Tennessee Sets New Execution Protocol With Single Drug

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More than 2 years after Tennessee abruptly halted Oscar Smith's execution, admitting that correction officials were not following protocols, the state announced a new method that could allow it to resume executions halted since 2022. The Tennessee Department of Correction announced that it had “completed its revision of the lethal injection protocol, which will utilize the single drug pentobarbital.” The agency did not immediately release the new protocol to the public or give any further details, reports the Associated Press. Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit that represents many death row inmates, said the announcement was “notable for its lack of detail.” Henry added, "The secrecy which shrouds the execution protocol in Tennessee is what allowed TDOC to perform executions in violation of their own protocol while simultaneously misrepresenting their actions to the courts and the public.


Smith’s 11th hour reprieve from execution came after Henry requested the results of required purity and potency tests for the lethal injection drugs that were to be used. Documents obtained through a public records request showed that at least two people knew that the lethal injection drugs the state planned to use hadn’t undergone some required testing. An independent review found the state had has not complied with its own lethal injection process ever since it was revised in 2018. Commissioner Frank Strada took over the Correction Department in January 2023, the same month its top attorney and inspector general were fired. In announcing the new protocol, Strada said, “I am confident the lethal injection process can proceed in compliance with departmental policy and state laws.” Henry noted that death row inmates have an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s previous lethal injection protocol, which used three different drugs.

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