Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has issued an exec­u­tive order estab­lish­ing a 90-day halt to exe­cu­tions in the state due to con­cerns that there aren’t enough instruc­tions pro­vid­ed dur­ing the exe­cu­tion process. The mora­to­ri­um will halt four exe­cu­tions sched­uled in Tennessee dur­ing the next three months. In an offi­cial state­ment, Governor Bredesen said:

​“I think all of you know that I con­sid­er the respon­si­bil­i­ty of the state to car­ry out the death penal­ty among the very most seri­ous respon­si­bil­i­ties we have.

​“I am a sup­port­er of the death penal­ty. I believe, in addi­tion, that it is incum­bent on the state to car­ry out these sen­tences con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly and appro­pri­ate­ly.

​“In the process of prepar­ing for lit­i­ga­tion sur­round­ing the lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dure used in our state, this is lit­i­ga­tion in Judge Trauger’s Court, the office of the Attorney General and the staff of the Department of Correction have iden­ti­fied defi­cien­cies with our writ­ten pro­ce­dures that raise con­cerns that they are not ade­quate to pre­clude mis­takes in the future.” 

“I am con­vinced, and we’ve talked about this exten­sive­ly, that the two exe­cu­tions that have been car­ried out in this state over the past decade, were car­ried out con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly and appro­pri­ate­ly. There did not appear to be any dif­fi­cul­ties with those exe­cu­tions.

​“In order to ensure that no cloud hangs over the state’s actions in the future, I have issued an exec­u­tive order today that:

​“First of all, directs the Commissioner of Correction to ini­ti­ate a com­pre­hen­sive review of the man­ner in which death sen­tences are admin­is­tered in Tennessee. It’s a com­pre­hen­sive review, specif­i­cal­ly includ­ing the state’s pro­to­cols and any relat­ed pro­ce­dures, writ­ten or oth­er­wise, relat­ed to the admin­is­tra­tion of the death sen­tence. And, in com­plet­ing this review, have direct­ed him to uti­lize all rel­e­vant and appro­pri­ate resources, includ­ing but not lim­it­ed to sci­en­tif­ic and med­ical experts, legal experts, and Correction pro­fes­sion­als, both from with­in and out­side of Tennessee, and also to research and per­form an analy­sis of the best prac­tices used by oth­er states.

​“Number two, as soon as prac­ti­cal, but not lat­er than May 2, 2007, the Commissioner of Correction is direct­ed to estab­lish and pro­vide to me new pro­to­cols and relat­ed writ­ten pro­ce­dures relat­ed to admin­is­ter­ing death sen­tences in Tennessee, both by lethal injec­tion and elec­tro­cu­tion. In addi­tion, the Commissioner is direct­ed to pro­vide me with a report out­lin­ing the results of that review that has been per­formed.

​“And third of all, I have revoked the cur­rent pro­ce­dures and relat­ed pro­to­cols, whether writ­ten or oth­er­wise, relat­ed to the admin­is­tra­tion of death sen­tences in Tennessee.

​“By sep­a­rate orders of reprieve, because of this, we will this day grant reprieves to four indi­vid­u­als, all of whom had sen­tences of death sched­uled to be car­ried out with­in the next 90 days before May 2. These four reprieves will remain in place until May 2, 2007.”

(The Tennessean, February 1, 2007, and Official Statement Issued by Governor Phil Bredesen — Executive Order No. 43, February 1, 2007). See Lethal Injection.

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