Tennessee Performs 1st Execution Since 2020 - Articles

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Tennessee Performs 1st Execution Since 2020

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on May 22, 2025

The state of Tennessee has executed Oscar Franklin Smith. He was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. Thursday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, the Nashville Banner reports. It was the first execution to be performed in the state since 2020, and was the first use of a single dose of the drug pentobarbital. In a final statement, Smith spoke out against the governor and the justice system. "Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn't work," he said in part, according to a witness. Smith was sentenced to death for the 1989 killings of his estranged wife and her two teenage sons. The victims' family thanked law enforcement, investigators and the judicial system at a news conference after the execution. The Tennessean has additional photos from the remarks. Earlier this week, Gov. Bill Lee declined to issue a stay of the execution.