If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough–Meister Eckhart

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, we at TADP want to express our sincere gratitude to all of you who join with us in our work to end the death penalty, prevent violence, and support victims of violent crime in Tennessee.

Though Tennessee moved forward with the executions of Oscar Smith and Byron Black this year, your support enabled us to lift up the voices of victims of violence and surviving family members of murder victims, the faith community, advocates for those with disabilities, and death row exonerees to speak out to stop these executions. Because of you, we were able to move thousands of Tennesseans to tell our elected leaders that the death penalty is a failed system that does not support victims of violent crime and does not make us safer.

The support you have demonstrated over the past months to stop these executions inspires us and tops the list of those things for which we are grateful this year. Your willingness to act on behalf of Tennesseans who are trapped in broken systems, caught in cycles of violence, and deemed disposable by our society is a testament to who you are and to your belief that it doesn’t have to be this way.

As you know, Harold Wayne Nichols faces execution on December 11, just a little over two weeks from now. Mr. Nichols has requested clemency from Governor Lee while his federal public defenders have taken the Tennessee Department of Correction to court to turn over pertinent information about the lethal injection protocol, a protocol whose failure was on full display during the torturous execution of Byron Black. We will continue to provide you updates about this case as well as actions you can take to prevent another execution.

With you, we at TADP agree that another way is possible. Together, we will keep speaking and working and acting and living into this new way of seeking to do justice in Tennessee by centering healing and prevention over excessive punishment and retribution.

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving,

Stacy and the TADP team

On August 5, Tennessee executed Byron Black with pentobarbital. As reported by every media witness present for his execution, Mr. Black was not rendered unconscious but gasped for air and lifted his head multiple times, stating, “It hurts so bad. I can’t do this.”

His autopsy revealed that he suffered from pulmonary edema during his execution and that even after he was declared dead by the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), Mr. Black experienced significant cardiac activity for at least two minutes.

Given the secrecy of Tennessee’s new protocol, its reliance on pentobarbital, the State’s refusal to deactivate Mr. Black’s defibrillator, and the total lack of judicial review, this result was predictable.

On December 11, the State of Tennessee plans to execute Harold Wayne Nichols in the same way.

Under Tennessee law, Mr. Nichols must select his method of execution no later than November 11. To better inform his ability to make this decision, his attorneys have requested information from the TDOC for months with no success. Given the grave problems that occurred during Mr. Black’s execution, this information is more critical than ever. To date, Mr. Nichols has received no information from the State and so he has not chosen an execution method. This means that the State will rely on lethal injection by default.

Mr. Nichols’ attorneys have filed suit in Knox County Chancery Court against the TDOC for violating the Tennessee Public Records Act by repeatedly refusing to release records related to the State’s execution process and recent executions. A hearing will occur this month.

“Tennesseans deserve to know that the Tennessee Department of Correction is following its own rules and that executions are being carried out in a manner that is not cruel and torturous,” said Mr. Nichols’ attorney Luke Ihnen. “Transparency is not optional, it’s the law.”

TAKE ACTION NOW: Send this updated letter to Governor Lee, urging him again to pause all executions until the court has had the opportunity to fully review this protocol.

What happened to Byron Black cannot be allowed to happen again

To learn more about the problems with lethal injection, TADP encourages you to attend an event this week with University of Richmond Law School Professor Corinna Barrett Lain, author of Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection, including an event on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7:00 p.m. CT at Christ The King Church in Nashville.

You can watch this Nov. 12 presentation on Facebook Live at bit.ly/lethalinjectionconvo.

You can also join us on Friday, Nov. 14, from Noon to 1 for lunch at First Congregational Church in Memphis. Lunch is provided. Register here.