Jailhouse interview with Tennessee death row inmate Oscar Smith

Oscar Franklin Smith is a Tennessee death row inmate convicted of the 1989 murders of his estranged wife, Judith Smith, and her two teenage sons, Chad and Jason Burnett, in Nashville. He was sentenced to death in 1990 and is currently the oldest inmate on Tennessee's death row, aged 74.

Smith has consistently maintained his innocence. His legal team argues that new DNA evidence—specifically, an unknown male's DNA found on one of the murder weapons—casts doubt on his conviction. Additionally, they claim juror misconduct and misinformation during his trial violated his fair trial rights.

Smith's execution has been delayed multiple times. In April 2022, Governor Bill Lee halted his scheduled execution due to an oversight in lethal injection preparations. A subsequent review revealed that none of the lethal injection drugs used since 2018 had been fully tested, leading to a pause in executions. In response, Tennessee introduced a new execution protocol using pentobarbital as a single drug, though concerns about its potential to cause unconstitutional pain persist.

Despite ongoing legal challenges, including a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the new execution protocol, Smith's execution is currently scheduled for May 22, 2025.

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