NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to provide any new information Friday explaining his decision to call off the state's first scheduled execution since the start of the pandemic.
The night before, the Republican governor had issued a statement saying there had been an "oversight in preparation for lethal injection" as he granted a temporary reprieve to 72-year-old inmate Oscar Smith. An attorney for Smith, Amy Harwell, later told reporters that her office had been told there had been a "mishandling" of the drugs.
"I granted a temporary reprieve because of a technical oversight," Lee told reporters Friday. "I have high expectations for our departments, and the death penalty is a serious matter that requires attention to detail. We are digging into this, and I expect we will have more to report [this] week."
Smith was convicted of the 1989 killings of his estranged wife and her two teenage sons. Shortly before the governor intervened, the U.S. Supreme Court had denied a last-hour bid by Smith's attorneys for a stay.
The inmate had been scheduled to receive a three-drug injection at a Nashville maximum security prison and was preparing for his final moments with his spiritual adviser when he received the news, according to Harwell.
He had already had what was to be his last meal and was finishing Communion before he was to be escorted to the death chamber.
"When the wardens walked in, the spiritual adviser said, 'I have consecrated more Communion, would you guys like to join us?' And the warden said, 'No, I need to give Oscar some news. There's not going to be an execution tonight,'" Harwell told reporters.
Smith slumped with relief, Harwell recalled, and both he and the Rev. Matthew Lewis praised God.
"Our prayers have been answered," Harwell remembered the two saying.
Lewis said Smith was "stunned" by the news and had been "fully preparing to die in the next hour."
Smith's reprieve is in effect until the beginning of June, but in the interim, attorneys and death penalty watchdog groups are already calling for an independent investigation into the matter.
"I think that it is imperative that there be an independent evaluation of what happened," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "And the reason I say that is because our experience across the country has been that departments of corrections hide the truth."
Dunham said what happened in Tennessee adds a new chapter to a long history of states struggling to follow their own rules and procedures when carrying out executions. He noted that these processes are often shrouded in secrecy and paranoia that only increase the risk of mishaps.
Tennessee uses a three-drug series to put inmates to death: midazolam, a sedative to render the inmate unconscious; vecuronium bromide, to paralyze the inmate; and potassium chloride, to stop the heart.
Officials have said midazolam renders an inmate unconscious and unable to feel pain. Expert witnesses for inmates, however, say the drugs would cause sensations of drowning, suffocation and chemical burning while leaving inmates unable to move or call out. The assessment has led to more inmates choosing the electric chair over lethal injection, which is an option for some in Tennessee.
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Mattise of The Associated Press.