Tennessee is scheduled to put to death a convicted murderer by electrocution Thursday night for just the second time in more than 50 years. Edmund Zagorski’s legal team is issuing a flurry of appeals, but the execution remains on track.
Zagorski was supposed to die by lethal injection three weeks ago. But after death row inmates failed to convince the state’s Supreme Court to overturn Tennessee’s three-drug protocol, he opted for electrocution — which is still available to people convicted before 1999. His attorneys say Zagorski considers it more humane because death tends to come more quickly.
More: Why The Electric Chair Remains An Option On Tennessee’s Death Row
At first, correction officials weren’t prepared to use the electric chair. Governor Bill Haslam put the execution on hold for 10 days while legal challenges were sorted out.
But in recent days, new questions have been raised about the readiness of the Tennessee Department of Correction. The man who built it is an amateur engineer and in recent days has expressed some doubts about whether it’s in working order since the apparatus hasn’t been used in more than a decade. And Zagorski’s attorneys are still pressing the prison warden to put a phone near the execution chamber in case a last-minute call to the courts is required.
Zagorski was convicted 34 years ago of killing two men during a drug deal.
The execution is scheduled for 7 p.m. Governor Bill Haslam says he does not expect to intervene.
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