FILE - Capital punishment protesters pray on the grounds of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution of inmate Oscar Smith, Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE - This undated booking photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows inmate Oscar Smith. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP, File)
Tennessee man faces execution for killing his wife and her 2 sons, 3 years after surprise reprieve
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥 A Tennessee man who killed his wife and her two teenage sons was scheduled to be executed on Thursday morning, three years after he was saved by a last-minute reprieve.
FILE - Capital punishment protesters pray on the grounds of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution of inmate Oscar Smith, Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥 A Tennessee man who killed his wife and her two teenage sons was scheduled to be executed on Thursday morning, three years after he was saved by a last-minute reprieve.
Oscar Smith, 75, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection of the barbiturate at 10:10 a.m. Smith has always claimed to be innocent, and with The Associated Press recently, he primarily wanted to discuss the ways he felt the court system had failed him.
He was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting his estranged wife, Judith Smith, 13-year-old Jason Burnett and 16-year-old Chad Burnett at their Nashville, Tennessee, home on Oct. 1, 1989. He was sentenced to death by a Davidson County jury in July 1990 for the murders.
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In 2022, a Davidson County Criminal Court judge despite some new evidence that the DNA of an unknown person was on one of the murder weapons. The judge wrote that the was overwhelming and the DNA evidence did not tip the scales in his favor.
Tennessee executions have been on hold for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of by the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Smith came within minutes of execution in 2022 before he was saved by a surprise reprieve from Republican Gov. Bill Lee. It later turned out the lethal drugs that were going to be used on him had not been properly tested. A subsequent turned up numerous other problems with Tennessee executions.
The Correction Department issued new guidelines for executions in December. The contains only a single page on the lethal injection chemicals with no specific directions for testing the drugs. It also removes the requirement that the drugs come from a licensed pharmacist. Smith鈥檚 attorney, Amy Harwell, has characterized it this way: 鈥淚t鈥檚 as if, having been caught breaking their own rules, TDOC decided, 鈥楲et鈥檚 just not have rules.鈥欌
The new protocols are the subject of a lawsuit filed by Smith and other death row inmates. A trial in that case is set for next January.
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