Tennessee man is executed for killing his wife and her 2 sons, 3 years after last-minute reprieve
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee inmate Oscar Smith was executed by lethal injection on Thursday morning for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife Judith Smith and her teenage sons, Jason and Chad Burnett.
Smith, 75, was pronounced dead after a lethal injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital. The 75-year-old had maintained his innocence, and in a lengthy series of final words, in part said, 'Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn't work.' Witnesses also heard Smith say, 'I didn't kill her.'
In a recent interview with AP, he primarily wanted to discuss the ways he felt the court system had failed him.
He was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting Judith Smith, 13-year-old Jason Burnett and 16-year-old Chad Burnett at their Nashville, Tennessee, home on Oct. 1, 1989. He was sentenced to death by a Davidson County jury in July 1990 for the murders.
In 2022, a Davidson County Criminal Court judge denied requests to reopen his case despite some new evidence that the DNA of an unknown person was on one of the murder weapons. The judge wrote that the evidence of Smith's guilt was overwhelming and the DNA evidence did not tip the scales in his favor.
Two of Smith's co-workers testified at trial that he had solicited them to kill Judith Smith, and he had a history of threats and violence against her and the boys. Smith had also taken out insurance policies on all three victims. And one of the child victims could be heard yelling what prosecutors said was, 'Frank, no!' in the background of a 911 call on the night of the murder. Frank is Smith's middle name and the one that he used regularly.
The siblings of Judith Smith, Mike Robirds and Terri Osborne, spoke to reporters after the execution. Osborne said they miss the sound of their sister's voice on the other end of the phone, planning Chad's driving lessons and the 'pure joy of hearing Jason's laughter.'
She said the tragic deaths are a reminder of the devastating consequences of domestic violence.
'We know it is an incredibly hard thing to do to leave a spouse who is abusing, but pray that this case becomes a call to action, encouraging those in danger to seek help before it's too late,' Osborne said.
Darlene Kimbrough, who knows Smith through her visits to another inmate on death row over the past decade, said she sent him a card recently. It just said, ''I hope you know that you are loved,'' Kimbrough said. Unexpectedly, she received a letter in reply on Tuesday, thanking her. She thinks that Smith was at peace with the idea of death, she said.
Tennessee executions have been on hold for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps by the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
Smith came within minutes of execution in 2022 before he was saved by a surprise reprieve from Republican Gov. Bill Lee. It later turned out that the lethal drugs that were going to be used had not been properly tested. A yearlong investigation turned up numerous other problems with Tennessee executions.
The correction department issued new guidelines for executions in December. The new execution manual contains a single page on the lethal injection chemicals with no specific directions for testing the drugs. It also removes the requirement that the drugs come from a licensed pharmacist. Smith's attorney, Amy Harwell, has said, 'It's as if, having been caught breaking their own rules, TDOC decided, 'Let's just not have rules.''
The new protocols are the subject of a lawsuit filed by Smith and other death row inmates. A trial in that case is set for next January.
www.thehotline.org
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
37 minutes ago
- The National
Owen Jones: The UK media has ignored this hugely revealing scandal
And yet Benjamin Netanyahu – the Israeli prime minister subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant – has been accused of forging this alliance by the Israeli political class. And yet – once again – the Westminster media has overwhelmingly failed to cover this latest profoundly revealing scandal. Avigdor Lieberman is a far-right opposition leader who once served as Netanyahu's deputy prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister. This week, he publicly announced: 'The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister.' Did Netanyahu come out swinging, accusing his opponent of antisemitism, as he did when another opposition leader, former Israeli general Yair Golan, declared that Israel was killing babies as a hobby? READ MORE: Patrick Harvie: Increased UK defence spending only makes war more likely He did not. Instead, Netanyahu bragged that 'Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment'. In a video message, he clarified that Israel had 'activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas', shamelessly calling it 'a good thing' which was saving the lives of Israeli soldiers. 'What's wrong with that?' We're talking here about a militia headed by a man named Yasser Abu Shabab. He styles his faction as the 'Anti Terror Service', but it is a criminal gang operating in an area of Rafah firmly under Israeli military control. His own family has not only disowned him, but backed his execution. According to Palestinian analyst Muhammad Shehada, his militia is composed of 300 'drug dealers and criminals.' And here's the important detail. To justify imposing a total siege on Gaza, Israel claimed that Hamas was stealing humanitarian food. Among those pointing out this wasn't true was Cindy McCain, widow of the late hawkish Republican senator John McCain, and now director of the World Food Programme. But we do know that Shabab's Israel-backed gang has been stealing aid. As ever with the Israeli authorities: every accusation is a confession. This is just another plank of Israel's starvation policy. But again, the Western media has overwhelmingly failed to clearly spell out what Israel is actually doing. Having imposed a total siege on Gaza since March 2, Israel set up a US-backed shadow entity named the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to explicitly supplant the UN. It hasn't just been rejected by every aid agency – even the US marine who heads it resigned on the basis it contradicted the basic principles of humanitarianism. The Foundation set three aid checkpoints in the south in an effort to concentrate Gaza's entire population into a confined area – a concentration camp. Too little aid was delivered, much of it unusable given the siege on cooking materials. But in any case, the Israeli military repeatedly fired on starving Palestinians. In the words of Tory MP Kit Malthouse, the UN system had been replaced with a 'shooting range, an abattoir'. But when the Israeli military massacred dozens of starving Palestinians, they deployed their usual strategy: deceive, deflect, deny, distort. Even though the shootings happened in an Israeli military zone, and despite the overwhelming evidence of Israeli lies, the Western media indulged Israeli claims that Hamas was responsible as if they were credible. CNN belatedly published a clear rebuttal of Israeli lies, but attention had already moved on. As ever, the Western media overall fail to allow Israeli responsibility for atrocities to stick. And yet now, even as Yair Lapid – the main opposition leader – states Netanyahu is 'giving weapons to organisations close to ISIS in Gaza', this latest plank of Israel's starvation strategy barely gets any coverage. This is despite Israel's 'Hamas is ISIS' campaign long being used to justify the genocide. This all fits a classic pattern, of course. Israel encouraged the rise of Hamas in the 1980s in order to undermine its public enemy number one at the time, Yasser Arafat's Fatah. More recently, Netanyahu worked with Qatar to transfer money to prop up Hamas – with the hope of dividing the Palestinian nation and movement so an independent state was impossible. Remember too how the West armed and backed the Mujahideen against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, playing a crucial role in creating the global Islamist fundamentalist movement. You would think the Western media might take an interest given the precedents. It is true that there is a shift taking place. Israeli spokespeople are suddenly being taken apart on mainstream television. Sky News is demanding the Prime Minister answer if genocide is taking place. But the media narrative still has not clearly shifted to reality – that is, a crime of historic proportions is being facilitated by Western governments, which means questions should be focused on 'how can this crime be stopped, and perpetrators held to justice' rather than 'is Israel doing something very bad here?' The latter is an improvement on where the narrative was stuck for so long – which was essentially 'Israel is waging a war of self-defence', with a side debate about whether the 'response' was 'proportionate'. What is clear is that an understanding is creeping into the political and media elites that a reckoning is coming, where those who facilitated this abomination will be forced to answer for what they did and what they didn't do. Time is running out.
Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Family & friends of 3 Brits facing death penalty in £300k Bali coke smuggling plot reveal horror as trio's fate awaits
THE family and friends of three Brits facing the death penalty after being accused of a £300,000 coke smuggling plot have revealed they are in "deep shock". Jon Collyer, 37, and Lisa Stocker, 39, both of Gillingham, Kent, are charged with attempting to smuggle 1kg of cocaine into Bali on February 1. 6 Brits, from left, Float, Jonathan Collyer, and Lisa Stocker are escorted by security officers before the start of their trial Credit: AP 6 The trio are charged with attempting to smuggle cocaine worth £300k into Bali Credit: EPA 6 The defendants face the three judges who will decide their fate at Denpasar's District Court Credit: AP A third Brit, Phineas Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the pair, was arrested a few days later. The three Brits face death by firing squad if they are found guilty of the offence under Indonesia's tough anti-drug laws. Members of their families and friends have now spoken of their horror over the drug arrests. Julian Collyer, dad of Jon, said: "I'm in deep shock, to be honest. "I'm very, very worried as any father or parent would be. I'm concerned about the court case and just very worried." Speaking to the DailyMail, the East Sussex dad revealed he spoke to his son for the first time in three weeks. A family member of mum Lisa Stocker, who wished to remain anonymous, said her kids "are desperate without her". She added: "She's just a mum. Her kids are going to be desperate without her. "It doesn't bear thinking about. I'm so shocked and I can't sleep at night thinking about what might happen to her." Stocker and Collyer allegedly brought the drugs into Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport via Doha airport in Qatar. Brit woman, 21, rotting in Dubai hellhole jail without a shower for a month after being arrested on drugs charges The pair was arrested at the airport when security officials discovered suspicious items in their suitcase during a random X-ray check. Police claim airport security seized 994.56g of cocaine in sealed blue plastic Angel Delight packets in Collyer's suitcase. Cops allege more cocaine was found in Stocker's bag. It's claimed Float was expected to meet Collyer and Stocker at the airport. Collyer and Stocker are being tried together and Float separately, although the trio appeared together in Denpasar earlier this week. The trio's fate will be decided by three judges, since Indonesia does not have a jury system. Float was all smiles as he faced the court in Bal earlier this week. He told journalists to 'f**k off' as he was led to face drug trafficking charges. 6 Float, on the right, told journalists to 'f**k off' as he was led to face drug trafficking charges Credit: AP 6 He hurled abuse at the press while being walked to a holding cell Credit: EPA 6 Collyer and Float were seen grinning at local media during an earlier court appearance He arrived in a prison van at Bali's Denpasar Central Court with his wrists shackled and wearing a red prison vest over a white shirt. The Brit hurled abuse at the press while being walked to a holding cell. Article 113 of Indonesia narcotics law states that anyone who imports or distributes drugs is subject to the death penalty. The three have been held in Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison and it has been reported that Float has gotten into fights with other inmates. Prison authorities threatened him with being thrown into the feared 'rat cell' isolation over an alleged recent brawl with another inmate. Around 530 people, including 96 foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related offences, according to the country's Ministry of Immigration and Corrections.
NBC News
9 hours ago
- NBC News
Democrats who called on Andrew Cuomo to resign in 2021 are endorsing him in 2025
Four years ago, a chorus of fellow New York Democrats called on then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign amid sexual harassment allegations, saying he was not fit to lead the state. Now, a growing group of them are endorsing him for mayor of New York City. On Friday, progressive state Sen. Jessica Ramos became the latest former Cuomo critic to endorse his bid, following at least three members of Congress and additional local politicians who are lining up behind Cuomo for mayor despite once calling on the then-governor to resign. It's an arc reminiscent of of the Republican Party's turnaround on President Donald Trump between the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and his 2024 presidential comeback, which saw many Republican critics from 2021 fall in line. "Voters are doing for themselves in New York in many ways what Trump voters did during the presidential election, they are overlooking the allegations and the importance of the #MeToo Movement because what they want for their constituents or themselves is more immediately important," said Basil Smikle, a New York Democratic strategist who previously served as the executive director of the state Democratic Party and ran Ray McGuire's 2021 mayoral campaign. "You can determine whether or not this is justifiable or reasonable or in line with what it means to be a public servant," Smikle continued. "But you have someone with allegations against him, allegations made by a very credible individual in [state] Attorney General Tish James, and a lot of people are saying: 'That isn't as important to me as what this person could deliver for my constituents today.'" In a story published on Friday, Ramos told The New York Times that Cuomo is "the one best positioned right now to protect this city" as Trump is "threatening to bulldoze New York." It's a stunning reversal from Ramos' criticism of Cuomo from just weeks prior, when she told the New York Post that Cuomo's "mental acuity is in decline," comparing him derisively to former President Joe Biden. In 2021, after Cuomo's resignation amid sexual harassment allegations, Ramos posted on social media that "New Yorkers deserve better than a man who has played politics with our lives for a decade & couldn't see beyond his ego." Asked about the change of heart Friday, Ramos told reporters that her endorsement "is not about forgiveness or about forgetting anything. This is a very sober take about where we are in this race and the type of leadership that is required at a time when I need workers and I need immigrants protected. I am not going to vacillate at the type of leadership that we need at such a critical juncture for our city." She's not the only New York Democrat to back Cuomo after a previous call to resign. Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres, Gregory Meeks and Adriano Espaillat all signed onto joint statements in 2021 that called on Cuomo to resign; now, all of them have endorsed Cuomo's mayoral bid. It's the same story for at least five state or local politicians now in Cuomo's corner after calling on him to resign. Representatives for all three members of Congress did not reply to requests for comment. Cuomo's 2021 resignation was a stunning turn of events for the governor, whose prominent role in the state's pandemic recovery made him a darling of many in the Democratic Party. Making the decision after an investigation by the state attorney general found he sexually harassed almost a dozen women, including his own employees, and broke laws, Cuomo said that he never would 'intentionally disrespect a woman' but did acknowledge he 'made mistakes.' He's since fought some of the allegation s in court and more recently, he told The New York Times that 'if i had to do it again, I wouldn't have resigned." Like Ramos, many of these endorsements specifically point to the former governor's past experience, his record of leadership and what the endorsers say is a need at this specific moment for the city. In Espaillat's endorsement of Cuomo, he specifically says that there's "so much at stake for the city of New York" right now and the city needs 'a strong and proven leader who will work to bring solutions to the most pressing issues facing New York City," before coming to the conclusion that "Cuomo is the clear choice." Torres' endorsement touts a similar note, pointing to his "competence and courage," noting that Cuomo "has the courage to stand up to extremist politics — both from the far left and the far right." Some voters who want to give Cuomo another shot agree. Carmen Perez, a 55-year-old city resident who spoke to NBC News earlier this month about her vote, said that she'd give Cuomo a second chance because "I've seen what Cuomo can do." "During the pandemic, he literally took over and said: This is how we're going to do, this is how we're going to get through this," she said. "If we're in a crisis, he's the guy." The politics of it all, and the unique dynamics of the mayoral race, loom large over the decisions by key New York City Democrats to line up behind a candidate. While Cuomo is seen as the front-runner in the Democratic primary, anti-Cuomo Democrats and candidates have been looking to strengthen the coalition against him by encouraging people not to rank Cuomo in any of their slots on the June ranked-choice ballot. Under this system, voters select their top five choices, in order, and votes cast for the lowest finishing candidates are redistributed to subsequent choices during multiple ballots until someone wins a majority. Also this week, progressive New York City Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Cuomo's top opponent, progressive state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, while also noting she would rank other candidates, and not Cuomo, to fill out the five slots on the ballot. For Democrats who believe Mamdani may be too liberal, or worry that he might not fare as well against current Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent now that many Democrats have turned on him after Trump's Justice Department stopped prosecuting him for corruption, Cuomo might seem like the best option. "With Eric Adams now out of the primary, it's only Andrew Cuomo who stands in the way of progressives taking power, and that's bolstered his candidacy," Smikle said.
