--- title: Tennessee description: 'Use of the death penalty in Tennessee has become increasingly rare and geographically concentrated; there are also continuing concerns about racial bias.' canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state/tennessee' section: statePages date: '2017-10-12T13:55:00-04:00' updated: '2026-10-02T19:32:44-04:00' source: 'Death Penalty Information Center' --- **Overview** ------------ Use of the death penalty in Tennessee has become increasingly rare and geographically concentrated; there are also continuing concerns about racial bias. From 2010 to 2014, six people were sentenced to death in Tennessee, but only three people were sentenced to death over the following ten years. Seven of the nine new death sentences were imposed on Black defendants. Black people comprise half of all individuals currently death-sentenced in Tennessee but only 17% of the general population. More than half of all death sentences in the past fifty years in Tennessee were imposed in just four counties: Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, and Shelby. Shelby County alone accounts for just under a third (32%) of all death sentences and just over half (51%) of the state’s death row population. Tennessee has seen a dramatic drop in the number of death sentenced individuals in the state— down 42% between 2015 and 2025. This decline was driven by the number of death-sentenced individuals (58%) who were resentenced to life or a term of years. For every five executions in Tennessee, there has been one [exoneration](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/innocence/description-of-innocence-cases). Two exonerees, Paul House and Michael McCormick, spent more than 20 years on death row fighting their wrongful convictions before they were released. Two of the three individuals whose sentences have been exonerated in Tennessee are Black. For more than 15 years, Tennessee’s use of lethal injection has featured mistake and controversy. [ $600,000 The amount officials paid to obtain lethal injection drugs between 2017 and 2025. ](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/records-show-tennessee-officials-have-spent-nearly-600-000-of-taxpayer-funds-for-lethal-injection-drugs-since-2017) [ 32% The percentage of all death sentences imposed in Shelby County since 1974. ](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/data/death-penalty-census/sentences?jurisdiction=Tennessee&sub-jurisdiction=Shelby+County,+Tennessee) [ 58% The percentage of death-sentenced people who have been resentenced to lesser sentences. ](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/data/death-penalty-census/sentences?jurisdiction=Tennessee&case-status=Conviction+Voided,+Convicted+and+Sentenced+to+Life+or+Less+in+Another+Jurisdiction&case-status=Exonerated&case-status=Grant+of+Relief+(Never+Retried)&case-status=Grant+of+Relief+(Retrial/Resentencing+Pending)&case-status=Grant+of+Relief+(Subject+to+Appeal)&case-status=Resentenced+to+Life+or+Less&case-status=Resentenced+to+Time+Served&case-status=Sentence+Commuted+(Administrative)&case-status=Sentence+was+Commuted+to+life+without+parole+(Convicted+and+Sentenced+to+Death+in+Another+Jurisdiction)&case-status=Sentence+was+Commuted+to+time+served) [ Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty ](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/research/analysis/reports/special-reports/how-racial-history-informs-tennessees-death-penalty) ![Tennessee Death Sentences By Year (Line chart)](https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sorNo/full.png) ![Current Status of Death Sentenced Individuals in Tennessee (Pie Chart)](https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mXHgT/full.png) ![New Tennessee Death Sentences by County [1972-2025] (Choropleth map)](https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SUHJq/full.png) - Overview - 1838 - 1965 - 1974 - 1990 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - August 9, 2018 - September 2019 - 2021 - 2023 - May 22, 2025 Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline Overview View Tennessee's history with the death penalty. **This timeline details some of its most consequential moments. Swipe to learn more.** Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 1838 Tennessee becomes the first state to ban mandatory death sentences. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 1965 Governor Frank Clement [commutes the sentences](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/clemency/notable-grants-of-clemency) of everyone on Tennessee's death row after an abolition bill is defeated in the legislature by just one vote. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 1974 Tennessee reinstates the death penalty following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in *Furman v. Georgia*. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 1990 Tennessee becomes one of the first four states to exclude people with intellectual disabilities from death penalty eligibility. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 2014 Governor Bill Haslam signs into law a bill that allows the state to use the electric chair in executions if lethal injection drugs are not available. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 2015 The Tennessee Supreme Court cancels the execution dates for four death-sentenced prisoners and returns their cases to the lower courts to address their challenge to Tennessee's lethal injection protocols. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 2016 The Tennessee legislature unanimously passes a bill that requires the preservation of biological evidence in capital cases. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline August 9, 2018 Tennessee [resumes executions](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/data/executions?state=Tennessee&federal=No), executing Billy Ray Irick by lethal injection. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline September 2019 Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery askes the Tennessee Supreme Court to [set execution dates](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/tennessee-attorney-general-asks-state-supreme-court-to-schedule-nine-executions-and-undo-plea-deal-that-took-a-tenth-prisoner-off-death-row) for an unprecedented nine death-sentenced prisoners, the largest execution request in the modern history of Tennessee’s death penalty. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 2021 The Tennessee legislature adopts new procedures for death row prisoners [to challenge their death sentences on the grounds that they have intellectual disability](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/tennessee-legislature-passes-bill-to-provide-death-row-prisoners-court-review-of-intellectual-disability-claims), responding to the case of Pervis Payne, a Tennessee death-sentenced prisoner who had strong evidence of intellectual disability. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline 2023 Governor Bill Lee announces that Tennessee will not resume executions until the state fixes systemic problems with its execution protocol. Tennessee's Death Penalty Timeline May 22, 2025 Tennessee again [resumes executions](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/data/executions?state=Tennessee&federal=No), executing Oscar Smith by lethal injection. Two more prisoners, Byron Black and Harold Nichols, are executed before the end of 2025. - Overview - 2007 - 2014 - 2015 - 2018 - 2022 - 2023 - December 2024 - March 2025 - May 22, 2025 - August 5, 2025 - December 11, 2025 - May 21, 2026 Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection Overview For more than 15 years, Tennessee has faced controversies over its approach to lethal injection executions, twice resulting in executive moratoria on executions. This timeline recounts milestones in this still evolving story. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection 2007 A 90-day executive moratorium on capital punishment is put in place while the state examines its lethal injection protocol. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection 2014 Governor Bill Haslam signs into law a bill that allows the state to use the electric chair in executions if lethal injection drugs are not available. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection 2015 The Tennessee Supreme Court cancels the execution dates of four death-sentenced prisoners and returns their cases to the lower courts to address their challenges to Tennessee's lethal injection protocols. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection 2018 The Tennessee Supreme Court denies a request from its attorney general to schedule eight executions before the Tennessee's execution drugs expire. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection 2022 An independent investigation into Tennessee's execution practices concludes that the state repeatedly failed to follow its own protocols while executing seven prisoners and in preparing for an eighth execution between 2018 and 2022. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection 2023 Governor Bill Lee announces that Tennessee will not resume executions until the state fixes systemic problems with the administration of its execution protocol. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection December 2024 The Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) [completes a multi-year review of its lethal injection protocol](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/tennessee-to-resume-executions-with-single-drug-lethal-injection-protocol) and announces the state would use pentobarbital, a barbiturate, in a single-drug execution protocol for future lethal injection executions. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection March 2025 A group of nine death row prisoners files a [lawsuit](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D02PluIi6bW-NfCaxmU0H7o9Q9FFpDjp/view) [challenging](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/nine-tennessee-death-row-prisoners-challenge-states-one-drug-lethal-injection-protocol-citing-high-risk-of-torturous-death) Tennessee’s use of pentobarbital in its revised lethal injection protocol, arguing it creates a “high risk of a torturous death.” Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection May 22, 2025 Tennessee [resumes executions](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/data/executions?state=Tennessee&federal=No), executing Oscar Smith by lethal injection under the new [single-drug pentobarbital](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/methods-of-execution/description-of-each-method) execution protocol. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection August 5, 2025 Byron Black is executed by lethal injection. [During his execution](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/autopsy-points-to-reason-behind-byron-blacks-painful-execution-in-tennessee), Mr. Black unexpectedly and repeatedly groans over the course of several minutes and expresses that he is in pain. His autopsy found evidence of “pulmonary congestion and edema”– defined as an abnormal buildup of fluid in the lungs which experts say can produce sensations of “[doom, panic, drowning, and asphyxiation](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/autopsies-show-excess-fluid-in-lungs-of-all-four-prisoners-put-to-death-in-oklahoma-execution-spree).” Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection December 11, 2025 [Harold Nichols is executed](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/data/executions?year=2025&state=Tennessee&federal=No&sort=state/asc) by lethal injection, [despite serious concerns](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/tennessee-execution-set-to-proceed-despite-mounting-concerns-over-states-lethal-injection-protocol) from doctors and lawyers about whether Tennessee’s execution protocol causes unnecessary pain and suffering. Tennessee's History with Lethal Injection May 21, 2026 Tony Carruthers is set to be the first American in over a century to be executed after representing himself at trial, and reasonable doubt remains about his guilt. Nonetheless, the execution proceeds. It takes roughly 15 minutes to secure a primary IV line, but the protocol also requires the executioners to establish a secondary “backup line.” They fail to do so, and after 1.5 hours of poking the Tennessee Department of Corrections stops the attempts and Mr. Carruthers is returned to his cell. Shortly thereafter, Gov. Bill Lee [issued a one-year reprieve](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/us/tennessee-execution.html). - Overview - Tony Carruthers - Christa Pike - Byron Black - Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman - Pervis Payne - Paul Gregory House Notable Cases Overview Swipe to see some of Tennessee’s most notable death penalty cases. Notable Cases Tony Carruthers [Mr. Carruthers](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/tennessee-scheduled-to-execute-tony-carruthers-despite-untested-dna-evidence-innocence-concerns-and-mental-illness) was [scheduled to be executed](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/upcoming-executions) on May 21, 2026, but his execution is called off after executioners work for 1.5 hours but fail to establish a second IV line, as called for in Tennessee's execution protocol. Mr. Carruthers was convicted and sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Marcellos Anderson, Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker in 1994. He has consistently maintained his innocence, and forensic evidence has never connected him to the crime. His conviction relied almost entirely on the testimony of a jailhouse informant, who was paid for his testimony, and DNA collected from the crime scene has never been compared to another suspect in the case. Notable Cases Christa Pike [Ms. Pike](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-sentenced-prisoner-christa-pike-files-religious-challenge-to-tennessees-execution-protocol) is [scheduled to be executed on September 30, 2026](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/tennessees-execution-of-christa-pike-would-make-her-the-first-woman-to-be-executed-in-the-state-in-over-200-years), and would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years and the only person executed in the state [for a crime committed at age 18, 19, or 20](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/research/analysis/reports/in-depth/immature-minds-in-a-maturing-society) in the modern death penalty era. In 1995, at 18 years old, Ms. Pike and two other teens killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom they knew from the Knoxville Job Corps. Ms. Pike was the only individual to be capitally charged. Her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 years old, received a life sentence, and is now eligible for parole, while Shadolla Peterson, who was 18, testified against Ms. Pike and Mr. Shipp and received probation. Notable Cases Byron Black Mr. Black was executed by lethal injection in August 2025, [despite a 2022 request from Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk ](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/nashville-da-concedes-tennessee-death-row-prisoner-with-august-2022-death-warrant-is-intellectually-disabled-and-ineligible-for-execution)to vacate his death sentence, arguing that Mr. Black had intellectual disability and was therefore ineligible to be executed. [During his execution](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/autopsy-points-to-reason-behind-byron-blacks-painful-execution-in-tennessee), Mr. Black unexpectedly and repeatedly groaned over the course of several minutes and expressed clearly that he was in pain. His autopsy found evidence of “pulmonary congestion and edema”– defined as an abnormal buildup of fluid in the lungs which experts say can produce sensations of “[doom, panic, drowning, and asphyxiation](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/autopsies-show-excess-fluid-in-lungs-of-all-four-prisoners-put-to-death-in-oklahoma-execution-spree).” Notable Cases Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman In [December 2021](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/after-prolonged-fight-with-local-prosecutors-tennessee-attorney-general-will-not-appeal-plea-deal-taking-abu-ali-abdurrahman-off-death-row), after more than 34 years after having been sentenced to death, Mr. Abdur’Rahman was resentenced to three consecutive life terms. Nashville Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins approved the resentencing after accepting a stipulation by the District Attorney’s Office that former Davidson County Assistant District Attorney John Zimmerman had unconstitutionally exercised his discretionary jury strikes to exclude Black prospective jurors from serving in Mr. Abdur’Rahman’s 1987 capital trial. Former District Attorney Glenn Funk, testifying in the case, told the court that prosecution notes from Mr. Abdur’Rahman’s jury selection and comments DA Zimmerman made during a state-wide prosecutors’ training program in which he advocated race-based use of jury strikes amounted to a “smoking gun of racial bias” in the case. During his more than three decades on death row, Mr. Abdur’Rahman had twice come within days of execution before court decisions issued stays that allowed him to continue to litigate his case. Notable Cases Pervis Payne [Mr. Payne's case](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/court-ruling-makes-formerly-death-sentenced-pervis-payne-eligible-for-parole-in-four-years) resulted in the Supreme Court decision [*Payne v. Tennessee*](https://www.oyez.org/cases/1990/90-5721)(1991), which allowed limited victim impact statements to be heard in the sentencing phase of a trial. Mr. Payne has consistently maintained his innocence in the murder of Charisse Christopher and her 2‑year-old daughter. His 1988 trial was tainted by racial bias, and he was unable to present evidence that he has intellectual disability., The prosecution employed racial stereotypes to portray Mr. Payne, a Black man, as a hypersexual and violent drug user, accusing him without evidence of attacking the white victim when she refused to have sex with him. His legal team worked for nearly two decades to have a court hear his claim of intellectual disability. Until 2021, Tennessee had no legal mechanism for challenging death sentences that were upheld on appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 ruling in *Atkins v. Virginia*, the decision which held the death penalty unconstitutional for individuals with intellectual disability. Mr. Payne’s attorneys filed his intellectual disability claim the day after the 2021 law went into effect, allowing him to finally challenge his death sentence. Mr. Payne was removed from death row later that year on evidence of his intellectual disability. Notable Cases Paul Gregory House Mr. House is one of three death-sentenced individuals in Tennessee who have been exonerated. [Paul “Greg” House](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/paul-house-death-row-exoneree-and-activist-dies-at-63) spent twenty-two years on Tennessee’s death row before his exoneration in 2009 and died at the age of 63 on March 25, 2025. Mr. House was sentenced to death in 1986 for the 1985 murder of his neighbor in Union County, Tennessee. He was convicted based on testimony from two witnesses who placed Mr. House near where the victim’s body was discovered, along with blood and circumstantial evidence. During Mr. House’s appeals, new DNA testing and other evidence cast serious doubt on his guilt, and other evidence implicated the victim’s husband in her murder. In June 2006, reviewing a decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Supreme Court held that Mr. House had satisfied the strict standard to overcome procedural default and allow his “gateway” claim of innocence to proceed. The Court further held that it was more likely than not that [no reasonable juror](https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-8990.ZS.html) would have convicted Mr. House beyond a reasonable doubt had they been presented with the new DNA evidence. He was released on bond in 2008 while prosecutors attempted to retry him; they ultimately dropped all charges in 2009. **Resources** ------------- - [Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty](http://tennesseedeathpenalty.org/) - [American Bar Association Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment](https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/projects/death_penalty_due_process_review_project/state_death_penalty_assessments/tennessee.html) - [Department of Corrections](http://www.tn.gov/correction/) - [Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference](https://www.tndagc.org/) - [Victims' Services](https://www.tn.gov/correction/redirect-agency-services/victim-services.html)