Tennessee’s Recent Issue with Lethal Injection

On April 21, 2022, Oscar Franklin Smith was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, when Tennessee Governor Bill Lee issued an executive reprieve due to an “oversight” in the execution protocol process.

In 1990, Smith was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of his estranged wife and her two teenage sons. Despite last-minute motions being denied, and Governor Bill Lee declining to intervene, Smith’s execution was temporarily halted on April 21, 2022, due to an “oversight” in the lethal injection protocol. The reprieve, announced by Governor Lee, suspended all executions until December 31, 2022.

The Governor’s office later explained that the reprieve resulted from procedural concerns related to lethal injection, particularly the failure to adhere to proper testing protocols. Testing oversights included the neglect to test for endotoxins, which, if present, could cause distressing symptoms before death. Although lethal injection generally aims to be painless, autopsy findings suggest otherwise.

Governor Lee responded by hiring the law firm Butler Snow to conduct a review of the testing incident, the clarity of the 2018 lethal injection process manual, and staffing considerations at the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC).