Death row inmate David Earl Miller picks the electric chair
David Earl Miller, the Tennessee death row inmate scheduled to be executed on Dec. 6, has told prison officials he wants to be executed using the electric chair.
Miller, 61, informed the warden at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution of his decision in a handwritten note that was marked “URGENT.” The Tennessee attorney general’s office announced the move in a court filing Monday.
Miller’s attorneys had previously argued to delay the deadline for a choice, but the state argued his letter to warden Tony Mays choosing electrocution rendered those requests moot.
A federal judge agreed, signaling Miller’s execution is set to move forward as scheduled.
Inmates sentenced to death for crimes committed before 1999 can choose between the electric chair and lethal injection, the state’s primary execution method.
Miller was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of Lee Standifer, 23, in Knoxville. He is the second death row inmate this year to opt for electrocution.
Inmate Edmund Zagorski chose to die in the electric chair Nov. 1 because he believed it would be a faster death compared to lethal injection, which can last as long as 18 minutes. Miller did not give any reason in his note to Mays.
Miller and Zagorski sued the state this year claiming that its controversial three-drug protocol for lethal injections caused searing pain that amounted to unconstitutional torture. The Tennessee Supreme Court denied that argument and upheld the lethal injection protocol.
Reach Adam Tamburin at atamburin@tennessean.com or 615-726-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.