Media coalition sues Tennessee prison officials to get more access to executions

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A coalition of news organizations including The Associated Press is suing Tennessee’s top prisons official and a warden, alleging state execution protocols unconstitutionally limit the media's access and hamper thorough and accurate reporting.

Currently, reporters witnessing lethal injections do not see the entire process. The coalition argues the protocols violate “the public and press’s statutory and constitutional rights to witness the entirety of executions conducted by the Tennessee Department of Correction, from the time the condemned enters the execution chamber until after the condemned is declared dead.”

They're seeking a judgment that the protocols are unconstitutional and an injunction to allow the press to see the full execution process.

“This lack of access has limited the public’s ability to obtain information from independent observers about execution proceedings in Tennessee,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville, names as defendants Kenneth Nelsen, warden of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville that houses Tennessee’s execution chamber, and Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction.

A department spokesperson said Wednesday that it does not comment on pending litigation. Nelsen's office referred a reporter to the department.

During executions, media members begin seeing what happens once the condemned person is already strapped to a gurney and hooked up to IV lines. They don’t know at which precise moment the injections begin and those administering the injections are in a separate room.

The protocol says that after the syringes of saline and pentobarbital are administered, a team leader signals to the warden and a five-minute waiting period begins. After that period, the blinds are closed, the camera is turned off and then the doctor comes in to determine if the person is dead. If that is the case, the warden announces on the intercom system that the sentence was carried out and witnesses are directed to exit.

The lawsuit says the First Amendment of the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions guarantee the public's right to witness the entirety of executions. Tennessee law spells out specific categories of witnesses entitled to be present at executions, such as seven members of the news media.

The lawsuit cited the August execution of Byron Black, during which curtains in the witness room were only open for 10 minutes.

The Nashville Banner’s reporting on Black’s death said that according to his attorney, medical personnel had trouble finding veins in his arms, which led to a puddle of blood on his right side. The attorney said it took 10 minutes just for the tubes to be attached.

The lawsuit presents the corrections department’s log of Black’s execution. The lawsuit points out that the media was only able to see when the warden ordered the blinds open and the closed-circuit TV activated; when the warden asked Black if he had any last comments; the completion of the lethal injection process; and the closing of the blinds and deactivation of the closed circuit TV.

The camera and closed circuit TV are viewed by the execution team, not media witnesses.

The lawsuit states that “media witnesses had no access to that stage of the proceeding to independently report on it, leaving the public with no account from a neutral observer.”

In addition to AP, the media coalition includes Gannett Co., Inc.; Nashville Public Media, Inc.; Nashville Public Radio; Scripps Media, Inc.; Six Rivers Media, LLC; and TEGNA INC.

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Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.