A state senator has proposed a bill that would make electrocution available as backup option in Tennessee death penalty cases.
Republican Sen. Ken Yager of Kingston, who proposed the bill, said he wants to make electrocution the method of death if lethal injection is ruled constitutional or an essential ingredient isn't available. Rep. Dennis Powers of Jacksboro proposed the House companion bill.
The state has 10 executions scheduled over the next two years, following a two-year halt because of controversy over lethal injection drugs. Electrocution was the primary form of execution in Tennessee for decades, but lethal replaced it in 2000.
Any death row inmates who were sentenced to death before 1999 have the option to choose electrocution.Daryl Holton decided to die in the electric chair in 2007, making him the first death row inmate killed in the electric chair since 1960.
Republican Sen. Ken Yager of Kingston, who proposed the bill, said he wants to make electrocution the method of death if lethal injection is ruled constitutional or an essential ingredient isn't available. Rep. Dennis Powers of Jacksboro proposed the House companion bill.
The state has 10 executions scheduled over the next two years, following a two-year halt because of controversy over lethal injection drugs. Electrocution was the primary form of execution in Tennessee for decades, but lethal replaced it in 2000.
Any death row inmates who were sentenced to death before 1999 have the option to choose electrocution.Daryl Holton decided to die in the electric chair in 2007, making him the first death row inmate killed in the electric chair since 1960.
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