Tennessee Judge Orders Broader Media and Public Access to Executions

On January 16, 2026, Chancellor I’Aesha L. Myles grant­ed a tem­po­rary injunc­tion order­ing the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) to expand access to exe­cu­tions for pub­lic and media wit­ness­es. The order was in response to a suit filed by a media coali­tion that includes the Associated Press, Gannett Co., Inc., Nashville Public Media, Inc., Nashville Public Radio, Scripps Media, Inc., Six Rivers Media, LLC, and TEGNA Inc.. The TDOC has faced scruti­ny in recent years for its fail­ure to adhere to its own exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols and the high lev­el of secre­cy it employs around executions.

The suit alleged that TDOC allowed media and pub­lic wit­ness­es an extreme­ly lim­it­ed view of exe­cu­tions, pre­vent­ing wit­ness­es from observ­ing the IV inser­tion process and the offi­cial pro­nounce­ment of death by the physi­cian. In its suit, the media coali­tion cit­ed the exe­cu­tion logs of Oscar Smith and Byron Black, both exe­cut­ed by Tennessee last year. The logs show that wit­ness­es were pre­vent­ed from view­ing the inser­tion of the IV and the pro­nounce­ment of death. In both cas­es, wit­ness­es were allowed to view the pro­ceed­ings for less than 15 minutes.

Chancellor Myles’ order spec­i­fies that the cur­tains in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber must be open to wit­ness­es pri­or to when the pris­on­er enters and should only close after the individual’s death is offi­cial­ly pro­nounced. This could pro­vide wit­ness­es with a 40-minute win­dow of obser­va­tion. In its response to the suit, the TDOC claimed that its pro­ce­dures fol­lowed the state’s ​“strict seclu­sion” man­date, but Judge Myles reject­ed that inter­pre­ta­tion of the man­date, say­ing the TDOC is only required to con­duct exe­cu­tions in the ​“seclu­sion” of the jail, and that it was incor­rect to use the pro­vi­sion to restrict the access of wit­ness­es once inside the jail complex.

Tennessee spent three years under an exe­cu­tion mora­to­ri­um after Governor Bill Lee dis­cov­ered TDOC failed to prop­er­ly test its lethal injec­tion drug sup­ply. In 2022, an inde­pen­dent 180-page report of Tennessee’s exe­cu­tion prac­tices found the state repeat­ed­ly failed to fol­low its own pro­to­cols between 2018 and 2022. After receiv­ing the report, Gov. Lee told reporters, “[W]e will take the time to fix the pro­to­col and to make cer­tain that we don’t move for­ward until everything’s in place.” 

Despite con­tin­u­ing con­cerns and lit­i­ga­tion around the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­to­col, Gov. Lee autho­rized the resump­tion of exe­cu­tions in May 2025, with the exe­cu­tion of Oscar Smith, the first in five years for the state. In August 2025, the state exe­cut­ed Byron Black, over­look­ing the poten­tial com­pli­ca­tions his heart defib­ril­la­tor pre­sent­ed, and refus­ing to acknowl­edge the fact that his intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty made him inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty. Media wit­ness­es report­ed that Mr. Black showed vis­i­ble signs of dis­tress dur­ing his exe­cu­tion, gasp­ing for air, lift­ing his head repeat­ed­ly, and telling his spir­i­tu­al advi­sor, ​“It hurts so bad.” Mr. Black’s autop­sy revealed he expe­ri­enced ​“pul­monary con­ges­tion and ede­ma,” an abnor­mal buildup of flu­id in the lungs that caus­es a drown­ing sen­sa­tion. In December 2025, the state also exe­cut­ed Oscar Smith. 

Just pri­or to Mr. Smith’s exe­cu­tion, a group of doc­tors and oth­er med­ical pro­fes­sion­als sent a let­ter to Gov. Lee urg­ing him to again pause all exe­cu­tions in the state until the pen­to­bar­bi­tal pro­to­col can be reviewed by a court. ​“From our clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence, pen­to­bar­bi­tal is unpre­dictable when used in iso­la­tion and can cause great dis­tress and a pro­longed and painful death,” their letter reads.