Oscar Franklin Smith Seeks New Hearing, Clemency Ahead of Execution - Articles

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Posted by: Kate Prince on Apr 5, 2022

Death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith yesterday filed a motion to reopen his case, claiming new DNA evidence shows an “unknown assailant” used the murder weapon in the 32-year-old Nashville triple slaying, the Tennessean reports. Smith was convicted in 1989 of the murders of his estranged wife and her two sons from another marriage and is scheduled to die by lethal injection later this month. The 13-page motion for post conviction relief was filed by Smith’s federal public defender Amy D. Harwell and Assistant Federal Public Defender Katherine Dix. Attorneys with the global law firm Baker Botts last month filed a clemency petition with Gov. Bill Lee asking Smith’s sentence to be commuted to life without parole. Smith’s lawyers have also asked Lee to grant a temporary reprieve while his appeals make their way through the system. Smith has maintained his innocence since his arrest.