Death row inmate says ‘I didn't kill her' as he's executed at 75 for murdering his estranged wife and sons

Daily Mail​

23-05-2025

The oldest inmate on death row had some fiery words for Tennessee's governor as he was executed for murdering his estranged wife and her teenage sons.
Oscar Franklin Smith, 75, was killed by lethal injection on Thursday morning for the 1989 murders of Judith Smith and her sons, Jason and Chad Burnett.
Smith has always maintained his innocence in the grisly murders, and as he lay strapped to a gurney at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville he claimed the justice system was broken.
He noted that Governor Bill Lee - who made a last minute decision to stop Smith's execution in 2022 - 'has the last word' on allowing executions to continue.
'He's a damned fool if he doesn't realize we've got [innocent] men at Riverbend waiting to die,' the 75-year-old said in his three-minute final statement, according to the Nashville Banner.
'I'm not the first, and I won't be the last,' he said.
Smith could later be heard insisting, 'I didn't kill her' in the moments before visible signs of respiration stopped and he was pronounced dead at 10.47am.
Witnesses to the execution said they saw no obvious sign that the injection had begun after his final statement, but noted that Smith's speech became labored as he spoke with his spiritual adviser - who was allowed into the execution chamber under an agreement with state officials.
She was seen performing a final liturgy, reading from scripture and at one point singing I'll Fly Away.
Smith was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting Judith Smith, her 13-year-old son Jason Burnett and 16-year-old son Chad Burnett at their Nashville home shorty before midnight on October 1, 1989.
Prosecutors argued that the couple were going through a contentious divorce and were fighting over custody of their three-year-old twins.
When the murders occurred, Smith was also facing domestic violence charges for allegedly assaulting his wife.
At his trial, two of Smith's co-workers testified that he had solicited them to kill Judith, noting that he had a history of threats and violence against her and her boys.
He even told one of his co-workers that he threatened to kill the boys because he said Judith treated them better than the twin children they shared, according to the Tennessean.
Smith had also taken out insurance policies on all three victims, prosecutors noted.
They also played the audio of the 911 call, in which they said Chad could be heard screaming, 'Frank, no.' Franklin is Smith's middle name, and one that prosecutors said he used regularly.
But Smith has long denied the murders and allegations of domestic violence and death threats, claiming he, his wife and the boys had spent the day together and later that night, he said he left Judy's house with their twins, whom he dropped off at his mother's house while he left for a job in Kentucky.
His claims, however, were refuted by the fact that his car was seen at the victim's home the night of the crime.
A handprint found at the scene also matched Smith's left hand - including his two missing fingers.
Smith was ultimately sentenced to death by a Davidson County jury in July 1990, and faced multiple execution dates that were rescheduled due to the COVID pandemic and moratoriums to review the state's lethal injection process, WPLN reports.
It had turned out that the lethal drugs the state was using for executions were not properly tested for endotoxins - a step in its own required protocol, and Gov. Lee granted Smith a temporary reprieve.
The corrections department, though, has since issued new guidelines for executions - this time involving just one drug, pentobarbital.
Those guidelines are now the subject of a lawsuit, which claims the state was likely using pentobarbital purchased on the 'gray market' because even though it is legal, major manufacturers have banned its use in executions.
That could increase the chance of torturous effects coming from a lethal dose, attorneys representing death row inmates argued, pointing to studies showing people executed with the drug experienced pulmonary edema - a form of lung damage, where fluid buildup creates a drowning sensation.
'It can create a sense of suffocating or drowning that has been likened by experts to the sensation intentionally induced by the practice of waterboarding, an unambiguous form of outright torture,' the lawsuit claims, according to the Nashville Banner.
In the last week of the Biden administration, the Department of Justice issued a report criticizing the use of pentobarbital in lethal injections, saying it comes with too high a risk of 'unnecessary pain and suffering.'
Attorneys representing Smith therefore asked the state for a reprieve of his execution once again, but Lee denied the request on Tuesday.
He was then seen breathing slowly, with his face turning red and then blue, before he was pronounced dead.
Still, witnesses to the execution said it look like he simply fell asleep, according to the Tennessean.
Among those witnesses were Judith Smith's sister, Terri Osborne, and brother, Mike Robirds, who spoke to reporters afterwards while standing in front of large portraits of their sister and nephews.
'The pain of losing Judy, Chad, and Jason is something we will continue to carry,' Osborne said.
'Not a moment goes by that we don't miss them. We miss the sound of Judy's voice on the other end of the phone. We miss the excitement of planning Chad's driving lessons. And we miss the pure joy of hearing Jason's laughter.'
The tragic deaths are a reminder of the devastating consequences of domestic violence, she continued.
'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.
The murders were brutal, Robirds added.
'No one should have to live in fear like our sister did,' he said. 'And no family should have to endure a loss like ours.'
Meanwhile, federal public defender Amy Harwell eulogized Smith as she reiterated questions about the state's use of pentobarbital in executions.
'Oscar Smith was a beloved child of God,' she said. 'He will be remembered for his cantankerous, curmudgeonly brand of kindness, as well as his skill with leather crafts.
'Because an autopsy would violate Oscar's deeply held religious beliefs, we will never know for sure whether he experienced the torture of pulmonary edema while Tennessee took his life.
'We do know, however, from the dozens of autopsies that have been performed on those executed by pentobarbital, that this execution method causes excruciating pain and suffering,' Harwell concluded. 'Our state should stop poisoning people to death in this cruel manner.'
At a nearby field, nearly 40 protesters gathered in opposition of the death penalty.
Among them was Christina Isbell, who said she opposes executions on a religious basis.
'For me, it´s just all about what God teaches,' Isbell said. 'And that is, even though somebody else may commit a horrible crime, you don´t go do that to them as well.'
William Burgess was the lone person standing in a fenced off area for death penalty supporters outside the prison.
He said he owned a car lot across the street from the home where Smith murdered his family members. Burgess said he was one of the first one to see the bodies.
'He lived too long,' Burgess said of Smith. 'Waste of taxpayers' money.'