Lawyer discusses what Tennessee needs to restart executions

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — It’s been more than four years since Tennessee’s last execution, and Governor Bill Lee says the state is closer to resuming executions after a two-year pause.

Lee paused executions in April 2022 , after discovering the state had not been testing lethal injection drugs as it was required to, just ahead of the scheduled execution of Oscar Smith, who has been on death row since 1990.

Last week, Governor Bill Lee told 6 News that he suspects the state is “closer than further” from having a death penalty protocol in place . This comes just weeks after Sean Finnegan was sentenced to death in an Anderson County court after he was convicted of Jennifer Paxton’s gruesome murder.

In that case, the jury cited several aggravating factors in its decision to give the death sentence, including how the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, and that it involved serious torture or abuse beyond what was needed to produce death.

Currently, there are 46 people on Tennessee’s death row, and Finnegan is the latest person to join death row in the state. According to the Isaacs Law Firm, only four of the 46 individuals on death row in the state are from Knox County, and 23 were convicted in Shelby County. There is only one woman on Tennessee’s death row: Christina Pike , who was convicted in the brutal 1995 murder of a 19-year-old woman.

In this week’s Ask Isaacs, 6 News’ Bo Williams and Attorney Greg Isaacs discuss the death penalty in Tennessee, and what will be needed for executions to be rescheduled.

If you have a legal question, send it to AskIsaacs@wate.com . To watch full episodes of Ask Isaacs, click here.

WATE’s Lori Tucker and Attorney Greg Isaacs answer your legal questions from the WATE Alert Desk on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. and on WATE Channel 6 at 5:30 p.m.

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