A blistering independent report on Tennessee’s lethal injection system has turned up years of communications showing a state determined to push forward with executing death row inmates despite major issues.
FILE - The execution chamber of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution prison in Nashville, Tenn., is seen on Oct. 13, 1999. According to an independent review released Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022, Tennessee has not complied with its own lethal injection protocol ever since it was revised in 2018, resulting in multiple executions being conducted without proper testing.
The result: The state put a single employee with no medical background in charge of procuring the drugs, and the state's own flawed lethal injection rules and communication lapses meant one of the required tests for the drugs wasn't conducted during any of seven executions since 2018 — two by lethal injection, five by electric chair. Under Tennessee's rules, the drugs need to be tested regardless of the method selected.
The governor later called for the third-party investigation and report, which was released Wednesday. The report showed that the state ultimately opted not to buy pentobarbital from a veterinarian 2017, but did consider importing the barbiturate internationally before scuttling that over logistical concerns.
The report says state correction officials were warned in 2017 by a pharmacy's then-owner that midazolam “'does not elicit strong analgesic effects,′ meaning ‘the subjects may be able to feel pain from ... the second and third drugs.’” Meanwhile, Lee's temporary pause on executions expires next week, with no executions scheduled for 2023. The Tennessee Supreme Court, which sets execution dates, hasn't commented publicly on how it will proceed. But under an agreement in federal court between the state and attorneys representing two death row inmates, executions are expected to remain paused to give public defenders time to challenge any new execution protocol via the courts.
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Report shines new light on execution secrecy in TennesseeA blistering independent report on Tennessee’s lethal injection system has turned up years of communications showing a state determined to push forward with executing death row inmates despite major issues
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Report shines new light on execution secrecy in TennesseeA blistering independent report on Tennessee’s lethal injection system has turned up years of communications showing a state determined to push forward with executing death row inmates despite major issues
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Report shines new light on execution secrecy in TennesseeWhen multiple pharmaceutical companies objected to Tennessee using their drugs to kill death row inmates several years back, the scramble to find lethal injection chemicals needed to carry out state-sanctioned executions grew frantic. The communications span years, depicting a state determined to push forward with executions despite roadblocks to obtaining the drugs and questions about whether revamped procedures would keep inmates from feeling pain as they are put to death. The result: The state put a single employee with no medical background in charge of procuring the drugs, and the state's own flawed lethal injection rules and communication lapses meant one of the required tests for the drugs wasn't conducted during any of seven executions since 2018 — two by lethal injection, five by electric chair.
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