NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Men incarcerated on death row in Tennessee are suing the state over its lethal injection protocol, calling it a violation of the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions.
Nine men currently set to be executed by the state filed the civil rights action in the Davidson County Chancery Court against Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) Commissioner Frank Strada and Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Warden Kenneth Nelsen.
In their suit, the death row inmates say the state’s new lethal injection protocol, unveiled in January , is “too obviously untenable to stand.”
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They claim pentobarbital has been shown to “pose a high risk of a tortuous death,” especially if mishandled or improperly stored. Additionally, they claim TDOC has “an internal culture of recklessness and noncompliance,” meaning no TDOC employees would be able to comply with “even the bare-cones protections against maladministration.”…