In Tennessee, inmates opt for electric chair over injection

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Three condemned inmates in Tennessee have chosen to die in the electric chair in the past year, claiming the state’s lethal injection method is even worse.

Tennessee is one of six states that allows inmates to choose electrocution. Courts in Georgia and Nebraska have found the electric chair to be unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court has never fully considered its constitutionality.

The Tennessee inmates argued in court that the state’s midazolam-based lethal injection method causes feelings of burning and suffocating. But their court challenge was dismissed when they failed to prove a more humane method was available.

Tennessee has three executions scheduled, and nine more in the works. Unless something changes, it is likely the three inmates who opted for the electric chair won’t be the last.