TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on May 27, 2022

A review of state executions records by the Tennessean has found that the state has not followed its own policies for carrying out lethal injections since it resumed executions four years ago. The paper says it reviewed thousands of pages of records and found that the state’s lethal injection protocol is “fraught with problems.” It also found that the state uses a “troubled Texas-based pharmacy to obtain its lethal cocktail of drugs.” Two executions have taken place under these protocols: Billy Ray Irick in 2018 and Donnie Johnson in 2019. Issues with the process came to light when Gov. Bill Lee halted the execution of Oscar Franklin Smith last month. He has suspended executions through the end of the year while an investigation is conducted. The governor’s office and the Department of Correction did not respond to the paper’s questions citing the review by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton.