After 6 years of a mostly dormant death penalty, Tennessee gets ready to execute one of its most notorious killers in less than a month.
This week, in preparation for the Oct. 7 scheduled execution of Billy Ray Irick, the Tennessee Department of Correction began taking applications for media witnesses to his death. Under department rules, seven media witnesses and 2 alternates will be selected at random by the department Sept. 23.
Irick, who raped and murdered a 7-year-old Knoxville girl in 1985, is one of 11 inmates currently scheduled to die through 2016, part of a renewed push last year to kick-start the state's lagging death penalty. He has been on death row since 1986. The last death row inmate executed in Tennessee was Cecil Johnson in December 2009.
Whether the execution will happen Oct. 7 is unclear.
Irick is among several inmates suing the state over the secrecy surrounding its lethal injection procedures. The case is awaiting an appeals court decision after the state challenged an order that would identify under seal those who would participate in executions.
That appeal, along with the scarcity of lethal injection drugs, could end up leading to a postponement of Irick's execution.
Gov. Bill Haslam has signed a bill allowing the electric chair to be used if the state can't find a supplier.
Correction officials declined to provide specifics about what other preparations they are making in anticipation of Irick's execution, including whether they have obtained drugs. The key drug used in Tennessee execution, pentobarbital, has been pulled from the market, leading some states to rely on compounding pharmacies to mix their own versions of the drug.
"We are confident that we will have the necessary chemicals when needed," said Neysa Taylor, spokeswoman for the Department of Correction.
Tennessee has refused to answer questions about how they plan to obtain the drug.
Source: WBIR news, Sept. 13, 2014
