Five years after last execution, Tennessee attorney general looks to resume killings

The Tennessee Attorney General's Office is asking the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for five people on death row, five years after the state last put a person to death.

The Attorney General's Office on Friday filed motions asking the court to set execution dates for Kevin Burns, Jon Douglas Hall, Kennath Artez Henderson, Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines and William Glenn Rogers, according to a spokesperson for the office.

The motions are the next step in the process to resume executions in Tennessee after they were paused in 2022.

The Tennessee Department of Correction in December finalized a new lethal injection protocol using a single drug, pentobarbital, a switch from the previous method of execution, which used a three-drug mixture. Gov. Bill Lee paused all executions in the state in May 2022 due to concerns over the drugs used in lethal injection, and audits found the corrections department had failed to follow the previous execution protocol for years, resulting in condemned prisoners likely being killed with expired, compromised or untested drugs.

Less than a month after Tennessee released its new protocol, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was abandoning pentobarbital for use in executions, citing concerns over "unnecessary pain and suffering."

A handful of the 46 people on death row in Tennessee already had execution dates set before they were granted a reprieve at the time of Lee's 2022 announcement. It is up to the Tennessee Supreme Court to determine what order the executions may be set for, according to a Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts spokesperson.

While executions were halted in 2022, the state had not put anyone to death since February 2020, when it killed Nicholas Sutton by electric chair. All five people the state is seeking execution dates for could choose to die by electrocution, which is an option for people who were sentenced to death before 1999, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.

Kevin Riggs, a Franklin pastor who has visited death row for years and co-authored a book with Burns, one of the men the state is looking to execute, called the decision to resume capital punishment in the state a waste of time and resources.

"Nothing has happened because these men haven't been executed," Riggs said. "No one else has been harmed because they haven't been executed, so it's just a waste of time and resources. There's no reason for it."

The development mirrors a trend in three other states that are resuming executions in March after as long as 15 years without putting a condemned person to death.

Burns, 55, was sentenced to death after a Shelby County jury convicted him of felony murder for the 1992 killing of Damond Dawson. Burns was part of a group of men who carried out a robbery that ended in the fatal shootings of 17-year-old Dawson and 20-year-old Tracey Johnson, and Burns maintains he did not pull the trigger. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in his case, although a justice said there was a "very robust possibility" Burns did not kill either victim.

Hall, 60, was sentenced to death after a Madison County jury convicted him of murder for the 1994 killing of his wife, Billie Jo Hall.

Henderson, 50, was sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty to killing Fayette County Deputy Tommy Bishop during an attempted escape from the Fayette County Jail in 1997.

Hines, 64, was sentenced to death after a Cheatham County jury convicted him of murder in the 1985 killing and rape of Katherine Jean Jenkins, a hotel maid.

Rogers, 62, was sentenced to death after a Montgomery County jury convicted him of murder in the 1996 killing of 9-year-old Jacqueline "Jackie" Beard. His death sentence was briefly vacated by a federal appeals court in 2022 due to concerns over the quality of his legal representation during the sentencing phase of his trial.

The five other people who were granted a reprieve in 2022 were Oscar Franklin Smith, whose execution was scheduled for April 21, 2022, but was granted a reprieve an hour before he was scheduled to die; Harold Wayne Nichols, whose execution was scheduled for June 9, 2022; Byron Lewis Black, whose execution was set for Aug. 18, 2022; Gary Wayne Sutton, whose execution was scheduled for Oct. 6, 2022; and Donald Ray Middlebrooks, whose execution was scheduled for Dec. 8, 2022.

Source: tennessean.com, Evan Mealins, February 18, 2025

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Instagram | Telegram | Contact Us

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

China executes 11 members of gang who ran billion-dollar criminal empire in Myanmar

China has executed 11 members of the notorious Ming family criminal gang, who ran mafia-like scam centers in Myanmar and killed workers who tried to escape, Chinese state media reported on Thursday. The Ming family was one of the so-called 4 families of northern Myanmar — crime syndicates accused of running hundreds of compounds dealing in internet fraud, prostitution and drug production, and whose members held prominent positions in the local government and militia aligned with Myanmar’s ruling junta.

Florida | Man convicted of leaving girl to be eaten by gators avoids death penalty

After about 4 hours of deliberations, jurors on Friday recommended Harrel Braddy should be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock. A South Florida man who dropped off a 5-year-old child in the Everglades to be eaten alive by gators nearly 3 decades ago was given a second chance at life as jurors recommended he should spend the rest of his life behind bars instead of being sent to death row. After about four hours of deliberations, jurors on Friday recommended Harrel Braddy should be sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 killing of 5-year-old Quantisha Maycock.

Federal Judge Rules Out Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione in UnitedHealth CEO Killing

NEW YORK — A federal judge has dismissed two charges against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, effectively removing the possibility of the death penalty in the high-profile case. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ruled Friday that the murder charge through use of a firearm — the only count that could have carried a capital sentence — was legally incompatible with the remaining interstate stalking charges against Mangione.

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application. Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.

California | Convicted killer Scott Peterson keeps swinging in court — but expert says he’s not going anywhere but his cell

More than two decades after Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, California, home, the murder case that captivated the nation continues to draw legal challenges, public debate and renewed attention. As the year comes to a close, Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son Conner, remains behind bars, serving life without the possibility of parole. His wife disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002, and a few months later, the remains of Laci and Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Death toll in Iran protests could exceed 30,000

In an exclusive report, the American magazine TIME cited two senior officials from the Iranian Ministry of Health, who stated that the scale of the crackdown against protesters on January 18 and 19 was so widespread that 18-wheeler trailers replaced ambulances. In its report, based on testimony from these two high-ranking officials, TIME revealed statistics that differ vastly from the official narrative of the Islamic Republic.

The US reporter who has witnessed 14 executions: ‘People need to know what it looks like’

South Carolina-based journalist Jeffrey Collins observed back-to-back executions in 2025 after the state revived the death penalty following a 13-year pause Jeffrey Collins has watched 14 men draw their final breaths. Over 25 years at the Associated Press, the South Carolina-based journalist has repeatedly served as an observer inside the state’s execution chamber, watching from feet away as prison officials kill men who were sentenced to capital punishment. South Carolina has recently kept him unusually busy, with seven back-to-back executions in 14 months.

Florida's second execution of 2026 scheduled for February

Florida’s second execution of 2026, a man convicted of killing a grocery story owner, will take place in February. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant Jan. 23 for Melvin Trotter, 65, to die by lethal injection Feb. 24. Florida's first execution will take place just a few weeks earlier when Ronald Palmer Heath is set to die Feb. 10. Trotter was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1987 for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford a year earlier in Palmetto.

China executes another four members of powerful Myanmar-based crime family

China has executed another four members of a powerful Myanmar-based crime family that oversaw 41 pig butchering scam* compounds across Southeast Asia. The executed individuals were members of the Bai family, a particularly powerful gang that ruled the Laukkai district and helped transform it into a hub for casinos, trafficking, scam compounds, and prostitution. China’s Supreme People’s Court approved the executions after 21 members were charged with homicide, kidnapping, extortion, operating a fraudulent casino, organizing illegal border crossings, and forced prostitution. The court said the Bai family made over $4 billion across its enterprise and killed six Chinese citizens.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog