Oscar Smith addresses Gov. Bill Lee in last words before execution
After narrowly avoiding death in 2022, Oscar Franklin Smith was executed by the state of Tennessee on May 22, the first execution since February 2020.
Smith, 75 and sentenced to die for a triple murder in Nashville in 1989, spoke his last words from a gurney inside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville at 10:32 a.m.
He spoke for 3 minutes and primarily addressed Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
"Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn't work," he said. "He's the last word and the last person to give justice where justice is needed. Too many innocent people are being killed."
Smith suggested the governor "quit" and "get a backbone."
He was administered a lethal injection of pentobarbital, a barbiturate, minutes later and was declared dead at 10:47 a.m.
This was the fourth time state officials had set an execution date for Smith.
The first two were postponed during the pandemic, and Gov. Lee called off the third about an hour before the execution when it was revealed the state didn't follow its own lethal injection protocol. Executions were ultimately called off for the next three years while there was an independent audit and the state finalized a new lethal injection protocol.
Smith was convicted in 1990 of murder in the October 1989 killings of his estranged wife, 35-year-old Judy Robirds Smith, and her sons from a previous marriage, 16-year-old Chad Burnett and 13-year-old Jason Burnett.
All three were killed in the Lutie Court home they shared in Nashville's Woodbine neighborhood.
Smith and his wife were separated when he shot his her in the neck and then stabbed her multiple times. Chad suffered a gunshot wound to his left eye, upper chest and left torso, while Jason was stabbed in the neck and abdomen. The couple shared twins, who were 3 years old at the time of their mother's death.
Smith has denied his involvement in the killings.
Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Oscar Smith addresses Tennessee governor in last words before execution
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