JURIST - Paper Chase: Tennessee conducts first execution by electric chair in 47 years

[JURIST] Tennessee [JURIST news archive] executed a condemned man by electric chair [Wikipedia backgrounder] on Wednesday, the first execution by electrocution in the state since 1960. Daryl Holton, who confessed to the 1997 murder of his three sons and their half-sister, chose to be electrocuted [Shelbyville Times-Gazette report] rather than to receive a lethal injection, Tennessee's usual method of execution. Tennessee law allows inmates to choose their method of death if their crime occurred before 1999 [TDC backgrounder].

According to a fact sheet [PDF text] distributed by the Death Penalty Information Center [advocacy website], 153 executions by electrocution have taken place in the US since 1976, with only 10 occurring since the turn of the century. Ten states currently authorize the use of electrocution [DPIC backgrounder], Nebraska being the only state that requires it. AP has more.

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