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April 22, 2022

Texas Executes Its Oldest Death Row Prisoner; Tennessee Halts Execution over Lethal Injection Drugs
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Prison officials in Huntsville, Texas, have executed the state's oldest
death row prisoner. On Thursday night, 78-year-old Carl Wayne Buntion
was strapped to a gurney and administered a single lethal dose of
pentobarbital. Death penalty opponents have compared the drug's effect
to drowning or being burned alive.

In Tennessee, Republican Governor Bill Lee temporarily halted the
execution of 72-year-old Oscar Franklin Smith Thursday evening, just
hours before Smith was set to die. Governor Lee cited an unspecified
"oversight" in the preparation of a three-drug lethal injection cocktail
meant to sedate and paralyze Smith while stopping his heart from
beating.

Meanwhile, South Carolina's Supreme Court has ordered a pause to next
week's planned execution of Richard Bernard Moore. The court is weighing
the constitutionality of South Carolina's new execution law, which
requires condemned prisoners to choose between the electric chair and a
firing squad. 


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