Tennessee

Timeline

1838 — Tennessee becomes the first state to turn away from the tra­di­tion­al manda­to­ry death sen­tence, grant­i­ng juries dis­cre­tion in sen­tenc­ing those con­vict­ed of murder.

1915 — Tennessee state leg­is­la­ture abol­ish­es the death penal­ty for mur­der. The bill is vetoed by the gov­er­nor, but the ban on exe­cu­tions still goes into effect because of a delayed veto.

1919 — Tennessee rein­states the death penalty.

1965 — Governor Frank Clement com­mutes the sen­tences of every­one on Tennessee’s death row after and abo­li­tion bill is defeat­ed by just one vote.

1974 — Tennessee rein­states the death penal­ty fol­low­ing Furman v. Georgia.

1990 — Tennessee becomes one of the first four states to exclude those with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties from the death penalty.

2007 — An exec­u­tive mora­to­ri­um on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is enact­ed in Tennessee for 90 days while the state exam­ines its lethal injection protocol.

2014 — Governor Bill Haslam signs into law a forced elec­tro­cu­tion bill that allows the state to use the elec­tric chair in exe­cu­tions if lethal injec­tion drugs are not available.

2015 — The Tennessee Supreme Court can­cels the exe­cu­tion dates for all four death row pris­on­ers and returns their cas­es to the low­er courts to address the inmates’ chal­lenges to Tennessee’s lethal injection protocols.

2016 — Tennessee Legislature unan­i­mous­ly pass­es a bill that requires the preser­va­tion of bio­log­i­cal evi­dence in capital cases.

2018 — The Tennessee Supreme Court denies a request from the state’s attor­ney gen­er­al to sched­ule eight exe­cu­tions before the June 1^st expi­ra­tion date of Tennessee’s sup­ply of one of its execution drugs.

2020 — At least 11 death row pris­on­ers are infect­ed with COVID-19 dur­ing out­breaks on the state’s death row.

2021 — The Tennessee leg­is­la­ture votes to advance bills that would cre­ate a legal mech­a­nism for death row pris­on­ers to chal­lenge their death sen­tences on the grounds that they have intellectual disability.

2022 — An inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tion into Tennessee’s exe­cu­tion prac­tices con­cludes that the state repeat­ed­ly failed to fol­low its own pro­to­cols in per­form­ing sev­en exe­cu­tions and prepar­ing for an eighth between 2018 and 2022.

2023 — Governor Bill Lee announces that Tennessee will not resume exe­cu­tions until the state fix­es sys­temic prob­lems with the admin­is­tra­tion of its execution protocol.

Famous Capital Cases

Philip Workman

Workman was exe­cut­ed in 2007 for the death of police offi­cer Ronald Oliver, though lat­er bal­lis­tics evi­dence sug­gest­ed that the bul­let that killed Oliver did not match Workman’s gun, and may have come from the gun of anoth­er offi­cer on the scene.

Pervis Payne

Payne’s case result­ed in the Supreme Court deci­sion Payne v. Tennessee (1991), which allowed vic­tim impact state­ments to be heard in the sen­tenc­ing phase of a tri­al. Payne was removed from death row in 2021 on evi­dence of his intellectual disability.

Notable Exonerations

Paul Gregory House

Charges against House were dropped in 2009 after he spent 23 years on death row and his case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Notable Commutations/​Clemencies

Gaile Owens

Governor Phil Bredesen com­mut­ed her sen­tence to life in 2010 after she served for over 20 years for hir­ing some­one to kill her hus­band. Owens was will­ing to plead guilty for a life sen­tence at tri­al, but because her co-defen­dant would not, the plea bar­gain was rescinded.

In 1965, Governor Frank Clement com­mut­ed the sen­tences of every­one on Tennessee’s death row after an abo­li­tion bill was defeat­ed by one vote.

Milestones in Abolition Efforts

Tennessee had a study com­mit­tee in 2007 – 2009 that rec­om­mend­ed changes to the cur­rent struc­ture, but not abolition.

Executive mora­to­ri­um in 2007 for 90 days while lethal injec­tion pro­to­col was examined.

In 1965, Tennessee’s Senate vot­ed to repeal the death penal­ty and repeal only lost in the House by one vote.

Tennessee was one of the first four states to exclude those with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties from the death penal­ty, doing so in 1990.

Tennessee only resumed exe­cut­ing peo­ple in 2000. The state went from 1960 – 2000 with no executions.

Tennessee ​“Firsts”

In 1838, Tennessee became the first state to give juries dis­cre­tion in sen­tenc­ing those con­vict­ed of mur­der, turn­ing away from the tra­di­tion­al manda­to­ry death sentence.

During the Progressive era (1890’s‑1920’s), Tennessee was the only for­mer Confederate state to leg­isla­tive­ly abol­ish exe­cu­tion for mur­der. The 1915 bill was vetoed by the gov­er­nor, but went into effect because his veto came too late. In 1919, the death penal­ty was reinstated.

Other Interesting Facts

Tennessee was the last Southern state to resume exe­cu­tions in the modern era.

Resources

• Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
• American Bar Association Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment
• Department of Corrections
• Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference
• Victims’ Services

Tennessee Execution Totals Since 1976