Clemency Petitions & Reprieves
Darrell Hines
Mr. Hines is scheduled to be executed on August 13th, 2026.
TAKE ACTION NOW: Urge Governor Lee To Grant Darrell Hines a Reprieve
On June 22, Darrell Hines‘ attorneys sent a letter to Governor Lee requesting that he grant their client a reprieve from his scheduled execution, “until the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) can demonstrate it is capable of carrying out executions in accordance with the Constitution, state law, and its own protocol.”
The letter from his attorneys requesting a reprieve explains that in December and January, Mr. Hines suffered multiple strokes that left him severely impaired. Since that time, he has lived in the prison infirmary. He is unable to walk, cannot move his left arm, hand, or leg, or see out of his left eye. He cannot move without assistance. He also has major neurological and cognitive impairments and is in constant pain.
“It is grotesque that TDOC plans to lift this frail, debilitated man from his infirmary bed and strap him onto an execution gurney,” said Kit Thomas, one of Mr. Hines’ attorneys. “We are asking Governor Lee to avoid the serious risk of another botched execution by granting Mr. Hines’s reprieve request.”
The letter references Tony Carruthers’ failed execution on May 21, during which executioners spent 90 minutes repeatedly jabbing him in his arms, hand, feet, chest, and neck in an attempt to establish an intravenous line before the execution was finally halted. Mr. Hines‘ lawyers assert that Mr. Carruthers’ botched execution attempt “demonstrates that [TDOC] remains incapable of effectively performing executions by lethal injection even in the absence of [the] additional medical complications” that Mr. Hines’ condition presents. It also notes that “TDOC’s use of a physician who had not set a central line in over a decade in the botched execution of Mr. Carruthers is but the starkest example of its inability to constitutionally administer capital punishment under the 2025 Lethal Injection Protocol.”
In connection with the litigation on Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, Mr. Hines’ attorneys have also asked TDOC to confirm whether it plans to use the same doctor in his execution as it used for Mr. Carruthers, and whether it intends to execute him with expired drugs. TDOC refused to answer similar requests prior to Mr. Carruthers’ failed execution.
Given Mr. Hines‘ medical condition and TDOC’s well-documented history of execution maladministration, Governor Lee should stop this execution to allow the court process around the lethal injection protocol to conclude. The risk to everyone, including Mr. Hines, those asked to carry out the execution, the victim’s family, the witnesses, and the Tennessee public is simply too great.
Christa Pike
Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, has asked the courts to review her case. If executed, she would be the only individual in Tennessee in the modern era to be executed for actions taken when she was 18 and the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
TAKE ACTION: Sign and share the petition asking Governor Lee to commute Christa’s sentence to life.
Learn more about Christa’s case at https://www.mercyforchrista.org/
Gary Sutton
Gary Sutton awaits execution for the murder of his close friend, Tommy Griffin. Gary has always fiercely maintained his innocence.
Gary’s case is riddled with errors. There is no direct evidence of his guilt. The only scientific evidence linking Gary to the case was offered by a now disgraced state medical examiner who lied on the stand and was stripped of his medical license. Moreover, there are other credible suspects who had motive and opportunity to commit Tommy’s murder.
With the death penalty in Tennessee reserved for only the most certain and heinous of circumstances, the State should not put to death a man whose conviction is flawed in so many ways and where so many questions still remain 30 years later. Gary should not be put to death.
TAKE ACTION: Sign and share the petition asking Governor Lee to commute Gary’s sentence to life.
Learn more about Gary’s case at https://www.justiceforgarywaynesutton.com/
Tony Carruthers
On May 21, 2026, the state of Tennessee tried to execute Tony Carruthers — while still refusing to run simple fingerprint and DNA testing that could prove his innocence. However, the execution attempt failed after a torturous effort, and Governor Lee issued a one-year reprieve.
Governor Bill Lee still has the power to demand answers to the most basic question: Did Tennessee get the right person?
Here is what we know:
- Carruthers was convicted without physical evidence.
- His conviction was based on testimony from informants, including one paid by the statewho later recanted his statement.
- For decades, the state denied that this informant was paid and actively prevented the jury from knowing the full truth.
- Carruthers was forced to represent himself in court—resulting in a trial riddled with so many mistakes that his co-defendant was granted a new trial.
- There are several fingerprints and DNA from the scene that don’t match Mr. Carruthers, but they were never compared to a suspect identified by his co-defendant.
If Tennessee executes Mr. Carruthers, he will be the first person in nearly a century to be executed after being forced to represent himself at trial.
Pervis Payne
To sign a petition on behalf of Pervis Payne, visit pervispayne.org. You can find a sample letter for Governor Lee on this site under “Petitions to Governor.”