Sedley Alley, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. at the state's death chamber...

Sedley Alley, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. at the state's death chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in west Nashville.
He was convicted of the 1985 rape and murder of Suzanne Collins, 19.
The death by lethal injection was the second ordered execution in Tennessee since 1960. Robert Glen Coe was executed in 2000 for the rape and murder of 8-year-old Cary Ann Medlin. Alley had previously received a 15-day reprieve last month from Gov. Phil Bredesen, intended to give the condemned man time to argue in court that he should be able to perform DNA testing on crime scene evidence.
But the courts did not grant the tests, and his execution was rescheduled once the 15 days ran out.
His defense team remained convinced of his innocence, and after the execution said they will continue to press their case in the courts to gain access to the evidence so that it can be tested.
Alley becomes the 1^st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Tennessee, the 25th this year in the USA and the 1029th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.