The Tennessee House Judiciary Committee unan­i­mous­ly approved a bill that would estab­lish a com­mis­sion to thor­ough­ly review the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem and pro­vide law­mak­ers with reform rec­om­men­da­tions that address any prob­lems iden­ti­fied by mem­bers of the com­mis­sion. The com­mis­sion would con­sist of rep­re­sen­ta­tives appoint­ed by Governor Phil Bredesen (pic­tured), the Senate, and the House, and would include pros­e­cu­tors, defense attor­neys, men­tal health advo­cates, and vic­tims advo­cates.

A poll con­duct­ed by the Global Strategies group revealed that 66% of Tennesseans would approve an exten­sion of the tem­po­rary hold on exe­cu­tions imposed ear­li­er by the gov­er­nor, who had received a let­ter from more than 200 faith lead­ers in the state urg­ing him to take steps that would ensure the accu­ra­cy and fair­ness of the state’s death penal­ty. In addi­tion, the American Bar Association urged Governor Bredesen to extend the state’s mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions to allow time for a clos­er exam­i­na­tion of con­cerns iden­ti­fied dur­ing a recent ABA study of Tennessee’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem.

[I]t’s encour­ag­ing that the General Assembly is tak­ing steps to address the seri­ous flaws in Tennessee’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem,” said Rev. Stacy Rector, Executive Director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing.
(Eyewitness News — Memphis, May 2, 2007). A fed­er­al District Court in Tennessee grant­ed a stay to Philip Workman, but the stay was lift­ed by the 6th Circuit. He is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed May 9. See Recent Legislative Activity and Lethal Injection.

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