Tennessee death row inmates want firing squad over lethal injection ahead of state's first execution in years
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — As Tennessee is set to carry out its first execution under the state's new death penalty protocol this month, some death row inmates say the firing squad would be more humane.
Currently, the state's main method of execution is lethal injection, but death row inmates whose crimes were committed before Jan. 1, 1999, also have the option of the electric chair.
Kelley Henry, the chief of the Capital Habeas Unit at the Federal Public Defender's Office, questions the constitutionality of the two options because they can both cause severe pain.
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'When that chemical enters your system, that poison, it's going to eat away the lining of your lungs, cause fluid to rush into your lungs, and then you will essentially drown in your own fluid,' Henry said. 'Or there's this other opportunity where you can be electrocuted and your internal organs will all be cooked, and it feels like you're being set on fire.'
In addition, the lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, has strict procurement, storage, transportation, and administration guidelines, which a 2022 independent report revealed the state wasn't following under its old death penalty protocol.
Henry told News 2 that, due to those issues and the potential for severe pain, many inmates would prefer the firing squad as an execution method.
'What our clients have proposed is the firing squad because that doesn't require sophisticated training. It's still brutal, it's still incredibly violent, but what we know now from science and the Department of Justice report that came out in Jan. of this year, where the United States Dept. of Justice said we are no longer going to use pentobarbital because of the ways in which it causes super added pain and suffering…' Henry said. 'With the firing squad, you're going to see a brutal death, but it will be much quicker.'
Tennessee Republicans tried to add the firing squad as an execution option in 2023, but the bill never made it out of committee.
'Why would we want correctional officers to sit there and point guns at individuals as a form of killing? It's almost legalizing first-degree murder. That is not cool,' Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) said in 2023.
'Some people have survived an initial volley of bullets in a firing squad execution, leading to a second volley of bullets,' Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis) read from a lawsuit out of South Carolina during a 2023 committee hearing on the bill. 'If some of this information is accurate, we're probably going to end up in court on constitutional issues.'
A similar bill was brought this past legislative session, but it never made it to committee.
Henry and other groups will continue to push for what they call a 'constitutional execution' method.
'Even if they're going to be executed, if that's going to be the case, they're still entitled to a constitutional method of execution, and not only are they entitled to it, the citizens of Tennessee want to see a constitutional method,' Henry said.
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It's unclear if lawmakers plan to bring legislation to legalize the firing squad in executions next session.
The state plans to execute death row inmate Oscar Smith, by lethal injection, on May 22.
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