TENNESSEE RESTORES ELECTRIC CHAIR AS DEATH PENALTY OPTION

May 22, 2014: Tennessee's governor has signed a bill that would allow the state to use of the electric chair if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. A spokesman for Republican Gov. Bill Haslam confirmed that the legislation had been signed after passing the state Senate by a 23-3 vote and the House by a 68-13 margin. Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said: “Tennessee is the first state to enact a law to reintroduce the electric chair without giving prisoners an option." "Dieter says he expects legal challenges to arise if the state decides to go through with an electrocution." Currently, Tennessee death row inmates can opt for the electric chair instead of lethal injection, but the state gives them a choice. The new law says the state can unilaterally mandate the chair if lethal injection drugs can't be obtained. The Tennessee governor's signature follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday that halted the execution by lethal injection in Missouri of Russell Bucklew. Tennessee has scheduled executions by lethal injection for at least 10 death row inmates. (Source: NPR, 22/05/2014)