Tennessee Governor Suspends All Executions, Launches Probe

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee delivers his State of the State address in the House Chamber of the Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 31, 2022. Mark Zaleski/AP Photo

Tennessee’s governor on May 2 said he was suspending all executions scheduled to take place in 2022.

Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, said the move was being made because of questions that were raised regarding testing of lethal injections during preparation for executing Oscar Franklin Smith, one of the inmates on death row in Tennessee.