Tennessee Death Row Inmate: Governor Refuses To Intervene As Oscar Smith To Be Administered Lethal Injection

After Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied Oscar Smith's request for clemency, he will be executed Thursday.

On Tuesday, Lee declined to intervene in the case of Smith, who is convicted of killing his estranged wife and her sons in 1989. The 72-year-old inmate will be the first person executed in the state since the Covid-19 pandemic started, reported CNN. Lee said that after thorough consideration of "Smith's request for clemency and an extensive review of the case, the State of Tennessee's sentence will stand, and I will not be intervening."

On Monday, the Tennessee Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of the inmate, who sought to have his case reopened. The attempt was made after an unknown person’s DNA was found on one of the murder weapons, reported NBC News.

The state is preparing to use lethal injection to kill Smith, who was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting Judith Smith, and her sons Jason and Chad Burnett at their Nashville home on Oct. 1, 1989.

Last week, the state Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Smith, who has maintained that he is innocent, didn’t provide evidence that he is innocent of the murders. Federal public defender Amy D. Harwell said Wednesday that Tennessee is "poised to execute an innocent man."

Late Monday night, Smith, who has been on death row for 32 years, was moved into a cell next to the execution chamber and placed on death watch, reported Tennesseean. The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) reported Wednesday that Smith chose an apple pie, a double bacon cheeseburger and vanilla bean ice cream as his last meal before his execution. TDOC spokesperson Dorinda Carter said that the meal will be delivered to him Thursday, reported Tennesseean.

In the brutal killings case, Smith shot his estranged wife in the neck then stabbed her multiple times. The former machinist shot her eldest son in the left eye. Then he shot him in the upper chest and left torso. As for her younger son, he was stabbed in the abdomen and neck.

His co-workers said that between June and August 1989, he had threatened to kill her on at least 12 occasions.