NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The state of Tennessee has filed orders to reset execution dates for death row inmates Byron Black, Oscar Smith, Harold Nichols, and Donald Middlebrooks.
The last execution in Tennessee took place in February 2020. Then, Gov. Bill Lee ordered a pause on executions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, just hours away from the execution of death row inmate, Oscar Smith, Gov. Lee again ordered a pause on the death penalty after discovering the TN Dept. of Correction (TDOC) wasn’t following its own protocol, including failing to test the lethal drugs.
“When I learned that there was a shortfall or that there was a potential problem in the protocol with regard to the death penalty, I halted it all,” Gov. Lee said. “I’ve told the department, take all the time you need to develop this [new protocol] exactly as it should be because it matters very much to Tennesseans.”
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It was frustrating news for victims’ families waiting for their loved ones’ killers to be executed, including the brother-in-law of Karen Pulley, who was raped, beaten, and murdered by current death row inmate, Harold Nichols in 1988.
“Okay, how many excuses can we come up with? What’s next? And if you get a date, is that a real date? Or is that just we think maybe, perhaps, possibly, it might happen?” Jeff Monroe, Pulley’s brother-in-law said to News 2 in 2022.
Monroe is one of many victims who have pleaded with the state to carry out the executions of their loved ones’ killers after waiting decades for justice.
“If the one method doesn’t work, let’s move to the other method,” Monroe said. “I’m perfectly happy to go that route. It sounds kind of callous, but how much time are you going to let go by? As far as I’m concerned, every day he’s had, every year he’s had, Karen has been gone.”
By Dec. 2024, more than two years later, TDOC announced it had completed its new death penalty protocol.
Then on March 3, the state filed to schedule execution dates for death row inmates Byron Black, Oscar Smith, Harold Nichols, and Donald Middlebrooks.
In its new protocol, TN elected to use the single lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, despite the federal government recently ditching the drug over concerns it could cause “unnecessary suffering.”
“The Tennessee Department of Correction will proceed in preparing to carry out the protocol,” a spokesperson for TDOC wrote in an email on Jan. 17 when News 2 asked whether the state will abandon the drug like the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called the execution date schedulings “premature” and “reckless” given the lack of transparency surrounding the new protocol.
She argued, instead of using millions of tax dollars to execute inmates on death row, the state could spend the money on helping victims and survivors of crimes.
“We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars, an exorbitant expense to taxpayers in this state, to pursue carrying out the death penalty for a handful of individuals who are already incarcerated and have been incarcerated for decades,” Rector said. “We could be using those millions and millions of dollars to invest in supporting victims of violent crimes, survivors, and communities disproportionally impacted by violent crime. That investment would go much further to keep Tennessee safer than the death penalty ever will.”
Rector is worried the potential risk of unnecessary suffering from pentobarbital not only violates the 8th Amendment, but also could negatively impact those who have to witness and carry out the death penalty.
“I think regardless of how folks feel about, in my mind, the unconstitutionality of the protocol itself and the potential risk of suffering and unconstitutional 8th Amendment violations that go along with this particular protocol, I think everyone of us can be concerned about the impact its going to have on correctional staff who are asked to do it,” Rector said.
According to the TDOC, Smith’s new execution date is May 22, 2025, Black’s new execution date is Aug. 5, 2025, Middlebrooks’ new execution date is Sept. 24, 2025, and Nichols’ new execution date is Dec. 11, 2025.
