NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an Order today resetting the execution date for Edmund Zagorski to November 1, 2018.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says the state is prepared to execute death row inmate Edmund Zagorski using the electric chair after issuing a 10-day reprieve that delayed his execution amidst a legal battle.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol and lifted a stay of execution ordered by a lower court because of inadequate counsel.
The court issued the rulings Thursday night around the time Zagorski’s execution had been scheduled. But earlier in the day, Gov. Bill Haslam granted a 10-day reprieve to give the state time to prepare for an execution by electric chair.
Zagorski had asked to die in the electric chair earlier in the week, instead of lethal injection, which he argued was cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional.
The state denied the request, arguing that Zagorski missed the deadline, but hours before the scheduled execution, a federal judge blocked the state from using its three-drug cocktail.
Zagorski was sentenced in 1984 for the slayings of two men during a drug deal.
*The Associated Press contributed to this report.