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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/01/edmund-zagorski-execution-electric-chair-supreme-court-stop-tennessee
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| Tennessee inmate executed after supreme court denies stay request | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Death row inmate and convicted double-murderer Edmund Zagorski has been executed in the electric chair minutes after the US supreme court denied a request to stop a Tennessee prison carrying out the act. | |
| The court said in a statement Thursday evening that it would not block the state’s plans to put to death 63-year-old inmate Edmund Zagorski at a Nashville prison. | |
| With just hours to go, Zagorski had asked the court take up his claim that it is unconstitutional to force him to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection. His attorney said Zagorski chose the chair thinking it would be quicker and less painful, but he maintains both methods are unconstitutional. | |
| The court statement says Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the dissenting voice, noting Zagorski’s decision to opt for the electric chair. | |
| Said Sotomayor: “He did so not because he thought that it was a humane way to die, but because he thought that the three-drug cocktail that Tennessee had planned to use was even worse. Given what most people think of the electric chair, it’s hard to imagine a more striking testament – from a person with more at stake – to the legitimate fears raised by the lethal-injection drugs that Tennessee uses.” | |
| He was sentenced in 1984 for murdering two men during a drug deal. | He was sentenced in 1984 for murdering two men during a drug deal. |
| If it goes ahead as scheduled, Zagorski will be only the second person put to death by electrocution in Tennessee since 1960. Daryl Holton chose to die in the electric chair in 2007. | If it goes ahead as scheduled, Zagorski will be only the second person put to death by electrocution in Tennessee since 1960. Daryl Holton chose to die in the electric chair in 2007. |
| Zagorski chose the chair after his legal challenge to Tennessee’s midazolam-based lethal injection protocol failed. His attorneys say he believes death by electrocution will be quicker, but he maintains that both methods are unconstitutional. | Zagorski chose the chair after his legal challenge to Tennessee’s midazolam-based lethal injection protocol failed. His attorneys say he believes death by electrocution will be quicker, but he maintains that both methods are unconstitutional. |
| The Tennessee department of correction announced on Wednesday that Zagorski’s last meal will be pickled pig knuckles and pig tails. Death row inmates are allowed $20 for a special meal before they are executed. | The Tennessee department of correction announced on Wednesday that Zagorski’s last meal will be pickled pig knuckles and pig tails. Death row inmates are allowed $20 for a special meal before they are executed. |
| Zagorski was originally scheduled to be executed 11 October, but that was delayed due to legal challenges and a last-minute reprieve. | Zagorski was originally scheduled to be executed 11 October, but that was delayed due to legal challenges and a last-minute reprieve. |
| The last person to be executed by electrocution in the US was Robert Gleason, who was put to death in Virginia in 2013. | The last person to be executed by electrocution in the US was Robert Gleason, who was put to death in Virginia in 2013. |
| Tennessee | Tennessee |
| US prisons | US prisons |
| Capital punishment | Capital punishment |
| news | news |
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