Tennessee sets execution for Oct. 11; here’s what to know
On Aug. 9, Billy Ray Irick became the first person put to death by the state of Tennessee since 2009. Irick was convicted in 1986 of the rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer.
Tennessee is set to execute another death row inmate at 7 p.m. Oct. 11.
WHO IS THE CONDEMNED INMATE?
The inmate scheduled to die is Edmund George Zagorski.
He’s 63 and has been on death row at Riverbend Maximum Security Institute in Nashville for 34 years, the second longest of all current death row inmates in Tennessee.
WHAT DID HE DO?
Zagorski was convicted of murdering John Dale Dotson and Jimmy Porter in April 1983. He shot them, slit their throats and stole their money and a truck, prosecutors say. The two men had expected to buy 100 pounds of marijuana from Zagorski.
HOW WILL HE BE EXECUTED?
Tennessee kills death row inmates using a combination of three toxic chemicals.
The first, midazolam, is supposed to render the condemned unconscious and unable to feel pain. The second, vecuronium bromide, and third, potassium chloride, are supposed to stop the condemned’s heart and lungs.
Attorneys for death row inmates say midazolam frequently doesn’t work as intended, leaving death row offenders in immense pain from the second and third drugs. However, no court has agreed that pain amounts to unconstitutional torture.
CAN THE EXECUTION BE STOPPED?
Gov. Bill Haslam could grant Zagorski clemency. Zagorski has asked the governor to commute his sentence to life without the possibility of parole. Zagorski’s attorney Robert Hutton says his client is reformed and hasn’t gotten in trouble during his entire time on death row.
A state or federal judge also could stop the execution. Zagorski is part of a state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol. Irick also was part of the lawsuit.
Neither option is very likely: The court challenge is considered a long shot, and Haslam has given no indication when he’ll make a decision on Zagorski’s clemency petition.
IS THERE ANOTHER EXECUTION THIS YEAR?
David Earl Miller is scheduled to die Dec. 6. Miller has been on death row since March 1982, the longest current stint of the 60 condemned inmates in Tennessee.
Miller, of Knox County, was convicted of the 1981 murder of a mentally disabled young woman, according to the Supreme Court.