State & Federal
Tennessee
Timeline
1838 - Tennessee becomes the first state to turn away from the traditional mandatory death sentence, granting juries discretion in sentencing those convicted of murder.
1915 - Tennessee state legislature abolishes the death penalty for murder. The bill is vetoed by the governor, but the ban on executions still goes into effect because of a delayed veto.
1919 - Tennessee reinstates the death penalty.
1965 - Governor Frank Clement commutes the sentences of everyone on Tennessee’s death row after and abolition bill is defeated by just one vote.
1974 - Tennessee reinstates the death penalty following Furman v. Georgia.
1990 - Tennessee becomes one of the first four states to exclude those with intellectual disabilities from the death penalty.
2007 - An executive moratorium on capital punishment is enacted in Tennessee for 90 days while the state examines its lethal injection protocol.
2014 - Governor Bill Haslam signs into law a forced electrocution bill that allows the state to use the electric chair in executions if lethal injection drugs are not available.
2015 - The Tennessee Supreme Court cancels the execution dates for all four death row prisoners and returns their cases to the lower courts to address the inmates’ challenges to Tennessee’s lethal injection protocols.
2016 - Tennessee Legislature unanimously passes a bill that requires the preservation of biological evidence in capital cases.
2018 - The Tennessee Supreme Court denies a request from the state’s attorney general to schedule eight executions before the June 1st expiration date of Tennessee’s supply of one of its execution drugs.
2020 - At least 11 death row prisoners are infected with COVID-19 during outbreaks on the state’s death row.
2021 - The Tennessee legislature votes to advance bills that would create a legal mechanism for death row prisoners to challenge their death sentences on the grounds that they have intellectual disability.
2022 - An independent investigation into Tennessee’s execution practices concludes that the state repeatedly failed to follow its own protocols in performing seven executions and preparing for an eighth between 2018 and 2022.
2023 - Governor Bill Lee announces that Tennessee will not resume executions until the state fixes systemic problems with the administration of its execution protocol.
Famous Capital Cases
Philip Workman
Workman was executed in 2007 for the death of police officer Ronald Oliver, though later ballistics evidence suggested that the bullet that killed Oliver did not match Workman’s gun, and may have come from the gun of another officer on the scene.
Pervis Payne
Payne’s case resulted in the Supreme Court decision Payne v. Tennessee (1991), which allowed victim impact statements to be heard in the sentencing phase of a trial. Payne was removed from death row in 2021 on evidence of his intellectual disability.
Notable Exonerations
Paul Gregory House
Charges against House were dropped in 2009 after he spent 23 years on death row and his case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Notable Commutations/Clemencies
Gaile Owens
Governor Phil Bredesen commuted her sentence to life in 2010 after she served for over 20 years for hiring someone to kill her husband. Owens was willing to plead guilty for a life sentence at trial, but because her co-defendant would not, the plea bargain was rescinded.
In 1965, Governor Frank Clement commuted the sentences of everyone on Tennessee’s death row after an abolition bill was defeated by one vote.
Milestones in Abolition Efforts
Tennessee had a study committee in 2007-2009 that recommended changes to the current structure, but not abolition.
Executive moratorium in 2007 for 90 days while lethal injection protocol was examined.
In 1965, Tennessee’s Senate voted to repeal the death penalty and repeal only lost in the House by one vote.
Tennessee was one of the first four states to exclude those with intellectual disabilities from the death penalty, doing so in 1990.
Tennessee only resumed executing people in 2000. The state went from 1960-2000 with no executions.
Tennessee “Firsts”
In 1838, Tennessee became the first state to give juries discretion in sentencing those convicted of murder, turning away from the traditional mandatory death sentence.
During the Progressive era (1890’s-1920’s), Tennessee was the only former Confederate state to legislatively abolish execution for murder. The 1915 bill was vetoed by the governor, but went into effect because his veto came too late. In 1919, the death penalty was reinstated.
Other Interesting Facts
Tennessee was the last Southern state to resume executions in the modern era.
Tennessee Execution Totals Since 1976
News & Developments
News
Mar 13, 2024
Tennessee Death Row Prisoner’s New Appeal Alleges Innocence, Prosecutorial Misconduct, and Ineffective Counsel
Jessie Dotson, a man sentenced to death for killing six people in 2008 in the Binghampton neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee, has filed a petition for a writ of a habeas corpus asking a judge to vacate his conviction and death sentence. His petition alleges that he is innocent, that police coerced him to falsely confess, and that a number of prosecutorial and defense errors occurred at trial. Mr. Dotson has been on death row since 2008, when he was sentenced to death for the murders of four adults, including his…
Read MoreJan 12, 2024
State Legislative Roundup: New Legislation on the Death Penalty
The first month of 2024 marks the start of new legislative sessions for many states and a number of new proposals pertaining to the death penalty.
Read MoreNov 09, 2023
Tennessean Op-Ed Discusses DPIC Report on Race and Tennessee’s Death Penalty
On November 2, 2023, Demetrius Minor, the National Manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty and Davis Turner, a retired attorney whose brother was murdered in Nashville in 2009 and a board member of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, co-authored an op-ed in The Tennessean discussing a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center. “Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty” details the history of racial violence and use of capital punishment in Tennessee. Mr. Minor and Mr. Turner note that…
Read MoreSep 05, 2023
Sole Woman on Tennessee Death Row, Age 18 at Time of Crime, Raises New Appeal Based on Youthfulness
Attorneys for Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, filed a motion on August 30 to re-open her appeals based on a recent decision from the Tennessee Supreme Court. In 2022, the Court ruled in State v. Booker that mandatory life sentences in homicide cases are unconstitutional when imposed on juveniles, drawing on U.S. Supreme Court precedent that held that juveniles are less mature, more vulnerable to peer pressure, and generally less culpable than adults. Ms. Pike’s attorneys argue that Booker’s reasoning applies to all youthful defendants, not…
Read MoreAug 31, 2023
Court Ruling Makes Formerly Death-Sentenced Pervis Payne Eligible for Parole in Four Years
On August 30, 2023, the Tennessee Criminal Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that formerly death-sentenced prisoner Pervis Payne can serve his two life sentences concurrently, making him eligible to apply for parole in less than four years. Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan resentenced Mr. Payne in 2022 to two life sentences with the possibility of parole after prosecutors conceded that they could not disprove Mr. Payne’s claim that he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. The state appealed Judge Skahan’s ruling,…
Read MoreAug 21, 2023
Brain Scans of Tennessee Man Who Admits to Killing Eight Convince Prosecutors to Drop Death Penalty
On August 16, 2023, Michael Cummins, who was facing the death penalty for the 2019 killings of eight individuals in rural Tennessee, pled guilty to all eight counts of first-degree murder in exchange for life in prison without parole. Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley told the press that he had reversed his decision to seek a death sentence and agreed to the plea based on new evidence regarding Mr. Cummins’ mental health. That evidence included Mr. Cummins’ brain scans, which showed “significant problems” and impairment of brain activity. DA…
Read MoreJul 20, 2023
Judge Rules Tennessee Statute Which Expands Attorney General Authority in Death Penalty Cases is Unconstitutional
On July 17, 2023, a Shelby County Criminal Court judge struck down a new statute, passed by the Tennessee Legislature in April 2023, to expand authority of the appointed state attorney general in death penalty cases. Judge Paula Skahan ruled that the law unconstitutionally removes the power of the locally elected district attorney. Some attorneys and lawmakers who disagreed with the new statute earlier expressed concerns that the new law targeted progressive district attorneys who were reluctant to pursue the death penalty.
Read MoreJun 26, 2023
New DPIC Podcast: DPIC’s New Report on the Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty
In the June 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Managing Director Anne Holsinger and Data Storyteller Tiana Herring discuss the latest Racial Justice Storytelling Report, Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty. The report examines the history of Tennessee’s capital punishment system, documenting the continued impact of racial discrimination and racial violence on the administration of the death penalty. Ms. Herring, the author, provides an overview of the report, explores key findings, explains its relationship to DPIC’s earlier work, and identifies…
Read MoreJun 22, 2023
DPIC Releases New Report on How the History of Racial Violence and Discrimination Have Shaped the Death Penalty in Tennessee
The Death Penalty Information Center’s new report on race and the death penalty in Tennessee places the state’s death penalty system in historical context, documenting how racial discrimination and racial violence continue to influence the administration of the death penalty. Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty, released June 22, 2023, notes that as the Tennessee Department of Correction develops new lethal injection protocols and prepares to resume executions, the state may find it useful to understand how Tennessee arrived at its current capital punishment system.
Read MoreMay 02, 2023
As Tennessee Legislature Ends, Two Death-Penalty Bills Fail and One Passes
Bills to alter the state’s method of execution and to make the execution process more transparent failed in Tennessee’s legislature this year as its session concluded. In an effort to facilitate executions bogged down by the state’s problems with lethal injection, a bill was proposed to give prisoners the option of the firing squad for their execution. Following an independent investigation into Tennessee’s lethal injection protocols, Governor Bill Lee ® had suspended executions on January 5, 2023.
Read MoreFeb 24, 2023
MENTAL ILLNESS: President of the Tennessee Psychiatric Association Urges Halt to Death Penalty for Mentally Ill Defendants
In an op-ed in The Tennessean, Dr. Keith Caruso, President of the Tennessee Psychiatric Association, shared the reasons behind the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) opposition to capital punishment for those with severe mental illness.
Read More