Oscar Smith, who spent more than 30 years on Tennessee’s deaths, was performed on Thursday for Murders from 1989. The wife of his wife and her two sons, and in his final words he insisted that he was innocent.
Smith, 73, was the oldest prisoner of mortal death in the state and long challenged his belief. His execution marked first in Tennessee from 2020. years, after a number of delays.
The execution of Smith was initially scheduled for 2022. year, but the Governor Bill Lee approved a temporary return due to worrying injection protocols.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1990. year for the killing of 35-year Judith Smith and her sons, a 16-year-old Chad Burnett and 13-year-old Jason Burnett, in his Nashville home.
The jury agreed with the prosecutors who smith, upset about divorce, shooting and sting of victims. Smith was identified as a suspect based on the bloody palm printing on the scene.
Tennessee Correction Department via AP, File
Why is it important
Smith’s execution ruled the debate on the death penalty process of Tennessee and the reliability of forensic evidence. His case received national attention in 2022. When Lee issued a temporary refund just a few hours before Smith should be executed. This break followed the internal audit, the state failed to test the deadly injection chemicals correctly, leading Lee to suspend all executions in terms of independent investigation.
The investigation led to the protocol reform in December last year. Smith’s execution was first under revised procedures.
What to know
Smith has made a deadly injection to the maximum security institution Riverbend. He said dead at 10:47
Smith gave approximately three minutes of the last statement criticizing the governor and the judicial system.
“Our judicial system is broken,” Smith said. “He has the power to stop it.”
He said too many innocent people were killed.
“We have more men waiting to die in Riverbend. I won’t be the first, and I won’t be the last,” Smith said.
In conversation with his spiritual advisor, he said, “I didn’t kill her.”
Kelley Henry, a lawyer who represents Smith, talked to Newsweek about the concern she had before Refuet Smith 2022. years.
“As with my other clients, when our office took over the case of Mr. Smith, I was very worried about the long history of Tennessee in the management of execution,” Henry said. “We were not sure that the state could execute constitutional execution and turned out that we were right.”
Three years later, the new protocol is in force, but Henry said he hadn’t changed much.
“The new lethal injection protocol does not deal with the problems of the previous one, is wrapped in secrecy, and we doubt that the state gained its drugs with the ‘gray market’, an increasing risk of nausea,” Henry said.
Henry said Smith “deeply kept religious beliefs,” the autopsy would violate.
“We know, however, from dozens of autopsy, which were performed on those who performed Pentobarbital, that this method of execution causes lovely pain and suffering. Our state should stop poisoning people to death in this cruel way,” Henry said.
Smith continued to challenge his belief, stating a new fingerprint technology and DNA testing that he says you turn it off as a killer. 2022. His legal team showed the fingerprint on the murder weapon that did not belong to Smith or victims. However, the courts have consistently denied its appeals.
The Supreme Court of Tennessee recently refused to hear a second complaint and Lee refused to give review, cleaning the way for his execution.
Smith requested Hotdogs, Tater Tots and Pie Apples with Vanilla ice cream for his last meal.
What do people say
Henry, in the comments on Newsweek: “The state should not allow secret data to store their deadly injection chemicals from prisoners who plan to kill or public who pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for Tennessee to get those chemicals.”
Smith, in an interview with Associated Print Before its execution:
“Why someone wants to see anyone killed, I don’t understand. We should be a civilized country.”
What’s next
The following prisoners of deaths that were supposed to be performed in the United States are Anthony F. Wainwright on Florida and Gregory Hunt in Alabama. Both executions are scheduled for 10. June.
Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covered? Do you have questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
2025-05-22 17:04:00
