Representative Jody Barrett Pushes For More Transparency In Tennessee Executions

Image Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only. Per The Tennessee Lookout’s Republishing Guidelines, this article has been edited for writing style & length.***

By Sam Stockard [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –

Another Tennessee Republican lawmaker is pressuring Gov. Bill Lee’s administration for a full accounting of a botched execution before the state attempts to put another person to death.

State Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson, a thorn in the side of GOP leadership, sent a letter Wednesday to Correction Commissioner Frank Strada demanding answers and solutions on the failed effort to execute Tony Carruthers in May.

“Before the Department of Correction asks Tennesseans for blind trust in their ability to carry out an execution, there must be an explanation of the changes that have been established to avoid future procedural errors,” Barrett’s letter says.

The letter to Strada asks whether the department has completed a formal review of the execution, what changes have been made, what types of qualifications and training will be required for the medical team, what safeguards will be used to prevent another “prolonged and unsuccessful attempt to obtain intravenous access,” and whether the department will release a summary of its corrective actions before the next scheduled execution, which is set for Aug. 13 for Darrell Hines, convicted of the 1985 stabbing murder of a Cheatham County woman.

Barrett’s letter comes on the heels of a similar message sent to Lee by a group of eight Republican Senate leaders who requested an independent review of the failed execution before the state commences with another one. The governor has responded to the senators’ letter and appears willing to meet and talk. Lee’s office has not answered questions from the Lookout.

The governor, who is in the final six months of his second term and appears to be coasting to the finish line, called off Carruthers’ execution when the medical team failed to find veins for a main line and secondary line for the lethal chemicals, poking and prodding him for an hour, cutting into his chest and considering using his jugular vein. His attorney called it “barbaric.”

Attorneys for death row inmate Hines, 66, who is gravely ill and confined to bed most of the time, have requested a reprieve pending a review of the state’s protocol for lethal injection. A lawsuit over the state’s lethal injection protocol remains in court.

Barrett tried to pass legislation this session to improve “transparency” around the death penalty, pointing out the governor had to stop the execution of Oscar Smith in 2022 an hour before it was supposed to take place because of questions about the lethal injection drugs and failure to follow protocol. At that time, the governor sought a third-party review and development of new guidelines that were set in 2025, but little, if any, information was released.

The governor and correction commissioner still haven’t given an explanation, Barrett said. Thus, the public still doesn’t know where it’s buying the chemicals, how old they are, how they’re being mixed or how much they cost, he added.

“If we’re going to be doing it, we need to be doing it correctly,” Barrett said, “any time the government acts, there needs to be transparency.”

Asked whether people who might be qualified to conduct an execution won’t do it because they object on moral and professional grounds, Barrett said, “I don’t know that there’s anybody qualified medically to execute a human being that can do it without violating the Hippocratic Oath. That’s the question I’ve had all along.”

Barrett points out the death penalty puts Tennessee in a weird “juxtaposition.” 

Barrett said Thursday he believes it’s “difficult to be pro-life and pro-death penalty” but added that he’s not trying to do away with the death penalty, only to make sure the government is performing them “efficiently and effectively and openly.” Transparency will enable the public to decide if changes need to be made, he said.