Late Monday afternoon, the Tennessee Lookout reported that eight Tennessee Republican Senators, including Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin, sent a letter to Governor Lee urging an independent review of Tony Carruthers’ failed execution attempt before the state moves forward with any other executions.
“The effort dragged on for well over an hour before the execution was called off. This was a failure of the State of Tennessee to carry a lawful sentence of its own courts,” the letter to Governor Lee says.
In addition to Majority Leader Jack Johnson, Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin, Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald, Sen. Becky Massey of Knoxville, Sen. Richard Briggs of Knoxville, Sen. Tom Hatcher of Maryville, Sen. Dawn White of Murfreesboro and Sen. Ken Yager of Kingston all signed the letter.
Later in the week, we learned that Senator Paul Bailey of Sparta signed on as well!
According to the Lookout, the senators told Governor Lee that before another execution is attempted, they want:
Every deficiency identified in a review to be corrected, as well as independent testing of lethal drugs for potency, sterility and contamination, confirmation the drugs aren’t expired and verification that personnel are qualified…test results and personnel qualifications made available to them and the public, “to the fullest extent consistent with law,” to verify the Department of Correction’s ability to perform executions.
TADP and our supporters (that’s you!) have urged more transparency in the execution process for years, educating lawmakers about our concerns and advocating for legislation that requires more transparency in executions.
This letter is a result of that work. You helped to make this happen!
P.S. Learn more about the failures of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol in the Nashville Banner.
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