New date set for Edmund Zagorski’s execution

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Supreme Court on Monday set a new execution date for death row inmate Edmund Zagorski following a brief delay to accommodate his request for the electric chair.

Zagorski, 63, is now scheduled to die Nov. 1, the court announced in a written order. The date seems final — the U.S. Supreme Court already rejected delays based on other remaining legal challenges.

Gov. Bill Haslam gave Zagorski a brief reprieve earlier this month to allow the state to prepare to use the electric chair.

Zagorski asked to die by electrocution rather than a controversial lethal injection method that experts said causes several minutes of severe pain. The state initially denied his request, saying he had asked too late, but a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the state from using lethal injection to kill Zagorski.

Haslam said he stepped in to give the state extra time to get ready for the electrocution. The Department of Correction protocol calls for additional staff training in the lead up to an execution using the electric chair.

On Monday, a court filing from the state confirmed officials would "honor (Zagorski's) decision to have his execution carried out by electrocution."

Zagorski faces death for the April 1983 killings of John Dale Dotson and Jimmy Porter. He was convicted of shooting them, slitting their throats and stealing their money and a truck. The two men had expected to buy 100 pounds of marijuana from Zagorski.

Justice Sharon Lee, who has been a vocal critic of the way the high court has scheduled new executions, dissented from the order setting Zagorski's new date.