Lawyer: Inmate’s choice of electric chair won’t buy him time

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An attorney for Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski says his choice of death by electrocution over lethal injection is not a ploy to buy time.

Kelley Henry announced Zagorski’s decision Monday night. He’s scheduled to be executed Thursday.

Henry said some people will see the choice as a stall tactic, but Zagorski cannot legally challenge the use of the electric chair after choosing to die by that method.

Henry said Zagorski’s decision is based on evidence that Tennessee’s lethal injection method would cause him 10 to 18 minutes of mental and physical anguish. He believes the electric chair will be quicker.

Electrocution is an option in Tennessee for inmates whose offenses came before January 1999.

The last time Tennessee put someone to death by electric chair was 2007.