Tag: Death Penalty Information Center

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TN House Leader Seeks Death Penalty for Child Rapists

State Capitol (Credit: Tennessee State Government)

“If you rape a child in the state of Tennessee, you will die. Period.” 

This is the hope of state House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth (R-Cottontown). If his legislation passes, adults over the age of 18 could face the death penalty if they rape a child under the age of 12, he told the House Criminal Justice Committee last week. He described his legislation before the Tennessee General Assembly as “the gravest type of bill we would possibly consider.” 

“If [the legislation] saves even one child from going through that, because the fear of [the death penalty] gets into the head of some monster out there — that’s even thinking about this — then it’s worth saving that child,” Lamberth said. “I will tell you life in prison for these evil people is simply too good. They should not be able to live out their days with the rest of us, including their victim — paying for their food, and housing, and care, and medical as they age and everything else. If you rape a child, you should die.”

The bill moved quickly through the House committee system. It is now placed behind the budget for consideration by the full House. The Senate bill was only introduced in mid-January and awaits a review by the Senate Judiciary Committee, its first hearing by lawmakers in that house. Its sponsor there is Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), Senate Majority Leader.  

So far, the only votes cast against the bill are from Democratic House members Rep. Ronnie Glynn (D-Clarksville), Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis), Rep. Joe Towns Jr. (D-Memphis), and Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville). 

Johnson said the penalty of child rape in Tennessee is life in prison, a sentence that must be served fully. She argued this already holds the guilty accountable. She worried a death penalty sentence would have a “chilling effect” on victims reporting the crime. 

“If a child was raped by an uncle, say,” Johnson said. “The uncle’s going to say, ‘Don’t tell because I’ll be killed, I’ll get the death penalty.’ Then, the mother of the child, who is the sister of the [alleged perpetrator], maybe won’t want to testify against her brother, if it means the death penalty. 

“If the victims fear, it will create a chilling effect on reporting.”

 Johnson also argued the move could further “re-victimize the victim.” 

“Not only is [the child in the scenario] a victim, she will be victimized every day by the state that’s going to require her to carry that pregnancy [to term]. Then, they’re going to require her to show up for appeal after appeal.”

“It’s a heinous crime and I hate to think about it, but life in prison also takes care of the situation.”

Lamberth read an email from a young, female victim, asking committee members to support the legislation. It spoke the high hurdles for criminal charges and soft sentences for defendants accused of child rape. It described their sexual desires like “they were at an all-you-could-eat buffet with the appetite of a bear coming out of hibernation and only having access to a single plate.”

“The ones that actually get convicted should face real consequences,” the letter read. “Perhaps if that happened, there would be less people in our community forever changed.”

If the legislation passes, Lamberth vowed to fight for its implementation in court. A 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said the death penalty is not proportional punishment for the crime of child rape. Lamberth countered this, however, noting that the court’s ruling came because “not enough states had this type of penalty on the books.”     

“We’re seen other decisions by the Supreme Court overturned,” Lamberth said. “I believe this particular makeup of the court, it leans more towards state’s rights.”

Death penalty executions remain on hold in Tennessee, after a scathing report in December 2022 found numerous problems with the state’s execution protocols. 

Two death penalty bills failed in the legislature last year. One would have added firing squads to the state’s options for executions. Another would have brought more transparency to the execution process. 

One death penalty bill passed last year. It gave the Attorney General control over post-conviction proceedings in capital cases, rather than the local District Attorneys. That bill was ruled unconstitutional in July by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan. 

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Death Penalty Update: No Firing Squad; Injection Transparency Stalled; State AG Could Manage Appeals

State Capitol (Credit: Tennessee State Government)

Tennessee won’t be killing death row inmates with a firing squad anytime soon, nor will it get more transparency in its lethal injection process, but Republican lawmakers did see fit this year to take away some powers from local attorneys general in death penalty cases. 

Two major bills before the GOP-controlled Tennessee General Assembly focused on the state’s death penalty situation this year, hoping to get state executions back on track. But both of them stalled before the end of session.  

As the Memphis Flyer noted in a previous story, executions in Tennessee are now halted, hamstrung on scientific protocols for lethal injections. A report ordered by Governor Bill Lee last year found that Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) officials did not follow their own rules to safely carry out lethal injection executions. Lee paused all executions after the report was published to review and repair the process.   

In the meantime, Rep. Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro) filed a bill that gives death row inmates a new option for execution. A firing squad “just simply gives them that option,” he said in a committee hearing. 

Death by firing squad has had a trendy resurgence, especially with conservative lawmakers. Such legislators in five states — Idaho, Utah, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Oklahoma — have approved the method. Utah is the only state to actually use the method recently, though, in 2010. This resurgence is likely due to states’ troubles in acquiring lethal injection drugs as their makers have become more reluctant to associate with the practice.

Tennessee’s troubled lethal injection program was one reason Powers said he brought the bill. In committee meetings, he’d remind legislators that capital punishment is legal in Tennessee, is constitutional, and so was his bill. Asked about the pain associated with the shooting method, Powers said he cared little. 

“Any type of death … it’s going to be painful,” he said in one hearing. “The death that they promoted and carried out for another subject was painful, too. So, I don’t have a whole lot of empathy for people that suffer pain during an execution.”

The bill made it to late rounds of the committee system but was ultimately queued up to be heard after the state budget. Lawmakers eager to end the embattled last weeks of this turbulent session left the firing-squad proposal on the table.

However, the bill yielded one concrete action. House leaders stripped Rep. Paul Sherrell (R-Sparta) from his spot on the House Criminal Justice Committee. The move came after Sherrell proposed adding “hanging by a tree” to the firing-squad bill in a committee hearing. The idea was not taken seriously and Sherrell issued a rare GOP apology about his remarks the following day.  

Another GOP bill did not advance as far as the firing-squad idea. Rep. Justin Lafferty (R-Knoxville) wanted more transparency in the state’s existing lethal injection system. Specifically, he wanted Tennesseans to know what companies made and supplied the state’s lethal chemicals. Lafferty said he believed more transparency would help ease woes that now trouble the state’s lethal injection process and help get executions back on track. 

”If Tennessee wants to continue this as a method of execution, the secrecy around the process should probably come to an end,” he said during a committee review. 

However, other GOP lawmakers worried such transparency could scare off some drug companies supplying lethal injection drugs that are already hard to get. The bill was tabled in early March. The group Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (TADP) said TDOC “lobbied hard against it.” 

A final GOP bill around the death penalty was approved by lawmakers this year. It gives the Tennessee Attorney General control over post-conviction proceedings in capital cases. That means appeals from convicted murderers for new trials or sentences will now be decided by the state’s AG, not local District Attorneys General, like Shelby County’s Steve Mulroy.

“This sudden move appears to be a response to the choices of voters in both Davidson County and Shelby County, who elected prosecutors to support more restorative and less punitive policies,” reads a statement from TADP. 

This bill was sent to Lee for a signature last week. According to the state’s legislative record, he still had not signed the bill as of Tuesday.   

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State Sets Execution Dates for Two More Inmates

CREDIT: Adobe Stock

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Less than a week after the execution of Nicholas Sutton, the Tennessee Supreme Court has issued execution dates for two more inmates later this year, prompting one anti-death penalty group to refer to Tennessee as the “outlier” in its use of executions.

The court issued execution dates for Bryon Black and Pervis Payne Monday.

Black, a Davidson County resident, was convicted of the 1988 murders of his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters. Payne, a Shelby County resident, was convicted of the 1987 murders of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter.

Prior to the court’s order, Black attempted to have his death sentence commuted, citing his intellectual disability. Black argued that his execution would violate both the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions due to his mental illness.

According to court documents, Black also asserted that the death penalty is racist and that Tennessee “is out of step with the evolving standards of decency.”

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The court denied his request, as there were no “extenuating circumstances” that warranted the commutation of his sentence.

However, the court has granted Black the opportunity for a competency hearing in July, which will determine if he is competent enough to be executed. If Black’s petition is denied, his death sentence will be carried out on September 24th.

Payne also asked the court to commute his sentence, citing reasons similar to Black. In addition, Payne asserted that he has a “strong case of actual innocence.” But the court also denied his request. Payne is set to be executed on December 3rd.

Last month, the Tennessee Supreme Court also set execution dates for two more inmates — Oscar Franklin Smith, who was convicted for a triple murder in 1989, and Harold Wayne Nichols, who was convicted for a 1988 rape and murder.

‘Outlier’

Tennessee is one of 30 states where capital punishment is still legal. Twenty states and Washington D.C. have abolished the death penalty.

Between 2009 and 2018, no executions were carried out in the state. Since August 2018, seven inmates have been executed in Tennessee.


In that 18-month period, Tennessee executed the second-highest number of inmates behind Texas, which carried out 24 death sentences, based on data from the Death Penalty Information Center.

In the past decade — despite an eight-year period of no executions — Tennessee has put the 11th highest number of inmates to death.

Texas tops that list, having carried out 122 death sentences since 2020. Behind Texas is Florida with 31 executions, Georgia with 30, and Ohio with 23.

Death Penalty Information Center

States with capital punishment

Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to Death Penalty, believes Tennessee has become “an outlier in its use of executions.”

Rector notes that the death penalty and support for the death penalty are at “historic 40-year lows.”

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“In the most recent Gallup Poll, 60 percent of Americans now say that they prefer the sentence of life without parole over the death penalty, and Tennessee juries have delivered only two new death sentences since 2013, showing that Tennesseans have moved away from the practice,” Rector said. “Increasingly, evidence demonstrates that our death penalty system is not applied fairly and accurately.”

Rector also cites a recent study published by the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy that concluded the state’s capital punishment system is a “cruel lottery” that is “riddled with arbitrariness.” The study examined every first-degree murder case in the state since 1977 to determine whether or not the arbitrariness that led the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 to declare the country’s death penalty laws unconstitutional is still a factor in Tennessee.

Specifically, the study concluded that in the more than 2,500 cases reviewed, the facts of the crime could not be used to predict whether or not the death penalty would be imposed. Instead, the study found that arbitrary factors, such as the race of the defendant, the quality of defense, and the views of the prosecutors and judges were the best indicators of whether or not the defendant would be sentenced to death.

Rector agrees, saying that mental illness, intellectual disability, racial bias, and ineffective counsel all play a role in the cases of inmates who are currently scheduled for execution in Tennessee.

Death Penalty Information Center

Methods

Tennessee is one of nine states where execution by electric chair is legal. However, no state other than Tennessee has used this method since 2013. Per state law, Tennessee inmates sentenced to death prior to 1999 are allowed to choose between lethal injection or electrocution. Of Tennessee’s seven executions since 2018, five, including the most recent execution of Sutton, were done by electrocution.

Many states, most recently Georgia and Nebraska, have abolished the use of the electric chair, ruling that it is “cruel and unusual punishment.”

There is ongoing litigation surrounding Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, which some have called “tortuous.”

Most recently, Smith, who is scheduled to be executed this summer, along with four other death row inmates, filed separate federal lawsuits presenting new evidence challenging the state’s three-drug lethal injection cocktail, which was adopted in early 2018.

The three drugs include midazolam, a sedative; vecuronium bromide, a paralytic; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

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Smith’s lawsuit alleges that midazolam is unsuitable for executions and that there have been problems with the preparation of potassium chloride that the state was aware of but failed to disclose to the inmates or the court.

The suit includes an August 2019 email exchange between prison officials that indicated the potassium chloride was not mixing correctly.

The incorrect mixing of the three drugs can lead to a painful injection, described as “injecting rocks into the veins,” the suit cites. As a result, the drug meant to stop the heart might not circulate properly, and the inmate would die from suffocation.

In 2018, in response to another lawsuit brought forth by 33 death row inmates, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that there was no evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and that the inmates who brought the suit failed to prove the drug cocktail creates a “demonstrated risk of severe pain.”

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Conservative Group Pushes for Death Penalty Alternatives

CREDIT: Death Penalty Information Center

Death Penalty Information Center

Stephen Michael West

A group of conservatives in Tennessee are speaking out against the death penalty. State officials began executions again in Tennessee last year and another execution is scheduled for Thursday night, August 15th.

Nashville resident Amy Lawrence, state coordinator of Tennessee Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said in a news release, that the death penalty goes against the “basic tenets” of the group’s beliefs, that ”murders should be followed with swift and sure justice,” and that a change in thinking is taking place now on the death penalty in red-state legislatures.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced yesterday that he will not intervene in Thursday’s scheduled execution of Tennessee death-row inmate Stephen Michael West. According to The Tennessean, West was moved into a cell next to the execution chamber in Nashville yesterday and will order his last meal sometime today.

“After thorough consideration of Stephen West’s request for clemency and a review of the case, the state of Tennessee’s sentence will stand, and I will not be intervening,” Lee said in a statement Tuesday.

West was convicted for the 1986 murders of a woman and her 15-year-old child in Union County, according to The Tennessean. West was also convicted of raping the young girl and inflicting 17 “torture-type cuts” to her stomach, according to the paper.

West argued he was present during the murders but he didn’t do it. Instead, he said it was the work of a friend of his from work.

West’s will be the state’s fifth execution since state officials began scheduling them again last year. Before that, the state’s last execution was in 2010, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. There are now 56 prisoners on death row in Tennessee.

Next month, New Orleans will host the first annual national meeting of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Lawrence and others from Tennessee will attend. She spoke with us regarding her group and its aims. — Toby Sells

Death Penalty Information Center


Memphis Flyer: How does the death penalty violate the basic tenets of your group’s beliefs?

Amy Lawrence: I believe that the core tenet of conservatism is small, limited government, and as conservatives, we apply this concept to a variety of issues, whether that be taxation, healthcare, or regulations. This is the same tenet that should be applied to capital punishment.

Simply put, the death penalty is anything but small, limited government. It is a prime example of a bloated, broken government program. It is costly, it risks executing an innocent person, and it leaves the ultimate power over life and death in the hands of a fallible system.
[pullquote-1] MF: You also said that, “murders should be followed with swift and sure justice.” What does that justice look like to you?

AL: Well, it sure doesn’t look like years of appeals and decades of court proceedings for the victims’ family members.

The death penalty does not provide swift and sure justice but instead drags families through decades of litigation, where in at least half the cases in Tennessee, the sentence is overturned and the convicted receives a life sentence anyway.

Life without parole begins as soon as the trial is over and allows families to at least have some legal finality.

MF: What alternatives to the death penalty does your group hope lawmakers will consider?
[pullquote-2] AL: Tennessee already has a life sentence of 51 years before parole eligibility and life without parole, which does not allow for parole ever. These are the two sentences that the majority of murderers already receive.

Death sentences are on the decline statewide and have been for some years with roughly only two death sentences in Tennessee between 2013-2018. More and more prosecutors seek the alternative sentences because of the cost of seeking the death penalty and to spare victims’ families while juries are also less likely to impose death sentences.

Death Penalty Information Center


MF: Is an alternative to the death penalty a hard sell in the broader conservative community?

AL: I really focus on what unites conservatives on this issue — limited government, fiscal responsibility, and pro-life stances.

We know that government and human decisions are error-prone. We simply cannot guarantee that we can carry out capital punishment with 100 percent accuracy. While the punishment might be just in some circumstances, we cannot carry it out justly.

We also have limited resources and with death sentences costing $1 to $2 million more than life without parole. I think the majority of people would support having those resources go towards victims’ compensation, law enforcement, and mental health programs.

MF: What is the next step for your group in this push?

AL: We continue to educate the public about the shortcomings of our system and will continue to push for laws to make the system more just.

MF: Is there anything else you’d like to say or anything I left out?

AL: Absolutely! If you would like to learn more about our organization, check out our website www.tnconservativesconcerned.org. I’m also happy to talk to civic groups and faith communities about this work.

For more information about Tennessee and the death penalty, visit the Death Penalty Information Center.