TN announces new method of execution that could allow states to resume executions After the last time it was suspended in 2022

Tennessee officials announced Friday a new method that could allow the state to resume executions. After the last scheduled executions were abruptly suspended in the spring of 2022, although executions will not resume immediately.

This incident occurred two and a half years after the state suspended the execution of the prisoner Oscar. Smith suddenly and admitted that correctional officers did not follow their own execution regulations. Related news agencies–

Smith, now 74, was scheduled to be executed for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her teenage son before it was revoked.

The Tennessee Department of Corrections announced Friday that “The amendment to the hazardous substance injection protocol has been completed. which uses pentobarbital as a single drug.”

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A gurney in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Prison. in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Sue Oakrocki, File)

Details about the new protocol have not been made public.

Kelley Henry, head of the federal public defender’s summons unit They represent many of the state’s death row inmates. said the announcement “It stands out because of its lack of detail.”

“The secrecy that shrouds execution protocols in Tennessee is what allows TDOC to carry out executions in violation of their own protocols. while misrepresenting their actions to the court and the public,” Henry told The Associated Press.

The decision to grant Smith a reprieve from execution came at the last moment after Henry requested the results of purity and potency tests required for the lethal injection drug that was scheduled to be administered. used to execute him

Documents later revealed that at least two people were aware that the dangerous injection drug the state intended to use had not passed some required tests. An independent review revealed that the state has not followed its own lethal injection process since it was revised in 2018.

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Federal Public Defender Kelley Henry speaks during a news conference about Oscar Franklin Smith, an inmate on death row in Tennessee. during a news conference in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, April 28, 2022. (AP)

Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada took office in January 2023, the same month the Attorney General and Inspector General of the Department of Corrections were abolished.

“I am confident that the lethal injection process can continue in accordance with ministry policy and state law,” Strada said Friday.

Henry said death row inmates have an ongoing federal case challenging Tennessee’s previous lethal injection protocol. which uses three different medicines in a row

The plaintiff has suspended the case pending review and amendment of state procedures. The agreement between inmates and the state gives them 90 days to review new protocols and decide whether to resolve complaints.

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Alabama’s lethal injection room is shown on September 7, 2002 at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. (AP)

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Henry requested that the execution date not be rescheduled while the court case was ongoing.

She also emphasized that the United States Department of Justice is currently reviewing the use of pentobarbital in executions.

“We know from scientific data that pentobarbital alone results in pulmonary edema. This is comparable to drinking water,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.