Chair tested for planned Tenn. execution

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - An electric chair slated to be used in the state's first execution by electrocution since 1960 was tested Monday and is ready to go, prison officials said. 

The chair, scheduled to be used in the execution of convicted killer Daryl Holton early Wednesday, was tested by running currents through a "test load box that is designed to simulate a human body," said state Department of Correction spokeswoman Dorinda Carter.

The test lasts about 35 seconds — "the amount of time we believe it takes to cause death at 1,750 volts," she said.

Holton, a Gulf War veteran, confessed to killing his three young sons and their half-sister with an assault rifle on Nov. 30, 1997. He told police that he killed the children because his ex-wife hadn't let him see them for several months, and that he had intended to kill his ex-wife and himself but instead turned himself in.

Holton chose the electric chair over the state's preferred execution method, lethal injection. Under Tennessee law, death row inmates can choose between the electric chair and lethal injection if their crimes were committed before 1999.

Holton, 45, came within a day of being executed a year ago before getting a stay from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal. He was also among four death row inmates whose executions were postponed in February, when Gov. Phil Bredesen placed a 90-day moratorium on the death penalty.

Bredesen had cited a number of problems with the state's execution guidelines, including a jumble of conflicting instructions that mixed lethal injection instructions with those for the electric chair.

The Correction Department completed the revision of its procedures in March, the moratorium was allowed to expire and the four executions were rescheduled.

Holton has been on death watch since Sunday morning and planned to meet with a spiritual adviser, Carter said. Holton made no special requests for his last meal, Carter said.

Holton appears to have few legal options left that could prevent his execution. He has fought his appointed defense attorneys for several years and has refused to speak with them or sign petitions to file appeals on his behalf.

His lawyers have said he has a long history of mental illness and may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from his Army service.

Nine states allow some or all condemned inmates to choose between lethal injection and another execution method, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a research group that opposes the death penalty. Ten states have the electric chair, but only Nebraska uses it exclusively.

The last Tennessee inmate to die by electric chair was convicted rapist William Tines, who was executed Nov. 7, 1960.

Virginia inmate Brandon Hedrick was the last person executed by electric chair in the U.S., on July 20, 2006, according to the center.

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