in Nashville, the House Judiciary Committee today unanimously approved legislation...

in Nashville, the House Judiciary Committee today unanimously approved legislation, introduced by Representative Rob Briley (D- Nashville) and Senator Doug Jackson (D-Dickson) and co-sponsored by members of both parties, to create a commission to conduct a thorough study of the state’s death penalty system. The commission would include representatives appointed by the Governor, the Senate, and the House, as well as lawyers for both the defense and prosecution, mental health advocates, and victims advocates. The commission would make recommendations to the legislature as to how the identified problems should be addressed. The legislation passed on the same day as Governor Phil Bredesen allowed lifted his 90-day moratorium on executions, put in place to study Tennessee’s execution protocols. He imposed the moratorium in February after accepting revised death penalty protocols submitted by the Tennessee Department of Corrections just days before the next execution. Though the new procedures include more detailed guidelines for carrying out lethal injections, the state will continue to use a controversial three-drug "cocktail" and exclude doctors from participating, meaures that some say risk severe and unnecessary pain. Legal challenges to the lethal injection process continue.
Tennessee has scheduled the execution of Philip Workman for May 9.