Tennessee electrocutes second inmate in 2 months

‘Beats being on death row’: Tennessee inmate who killed a young woman with a fire poker 36 years ago chooses to die in the electric chair as he becomes the second inmate to die in two months by electrocution

  • David Earl Miller, 61, was executed by the electric chair on Thursday evening  
  • He had been on death row for 36 years for the 1981 murder of 23-year-old Lee Standifer in Knoxville
  • Miller used a fire poker to repeatedly bludgeon and stab Lee Standifer, a young woman who was born with mild brain damage and with whom he was on date
  • Miller was the third death row inmate put to death this year, and the second to die by electrocution
  • In November, Edmund Zagorski died by electric chair after a federal court judge ordered the state to honor the inmate’s wishes
  • Some inmates have argued death by electric chair rather than lethal injection is ‘the lesser of two evils’ 
  • The August execution of Billy Ray Irick, took 20 minutes, and during which time Irick was observed coughing and huffing before turning a dark purple

A Tennessee inmate has become the second person to be executed in just over a month – after being on death row for 36 years.  

David Earl Miller, 61, was pronounced dead at 7:25pm on Thursday at a Nashville maximum-security prison, corrections officials said.    

Both Miller and inmate Edmund Zagorski before him chose the electric chair over lethal injection, a process proponents said would be painless and humane.


David Earl Miller, 61, was executed by the electric chair on Thursday evening. He had been on death row for 36 years for the 1981 murder of 23-year-old Lee Standifer in Knoxville

Standifer was kiled on the night of May 20, 1981, continually thrashing her with the poker and driving the implement so deep into her in some places, officials said Miller would have needed to use a hammer

But the inmates argued in court that Tennessee’s current midazolam-based method causes a prolonged and torturous death.  

The state adopted lethal injection as its preferred method of execution almost 20 years ago but both inmates point to the August execution of Billy Ray Irick, which took around 20 minutes and during which he coughed and huffed before turning a dark purple.

Their case was thrown out, largely because a judge said they failed to prove a more humane alternative was available. 

Zagorski was executed November 1 and Governor Bill Haslam declined Thursday to intervene in Miller’s execution.

Moments before the execution, Miller was asked if he wanted to say anything, but his reply was not understandable. He was asked again and his attorney clarified that he was saying, ‘Beats being on death row.’


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Some inmates have argued death by electric chair rather than lethal injection is ‘the lesser of two evils.’ In August, an execution by injection took 20 minutes and the inmate turned purple

Protesters against the death penalty gather for song and prayer in a field outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Tennessee death row inmate David Earl

Tennessee has executed David Earl Miller, its longest-serving death row inmate, who became the second person to be killed in the state’s electric chair in just over a month

A protest took place before Miller was put to death in the hope of staying his execution

Wearing a cream-colored jumpsuit, Miller was dripping with water from the sponges that were applied to his head. Before the shroud was placed over Miller’s head, he faced the media witnesses and looked down. 

Two jolts of electricity were administered, causing his muscles to clench. Blinds were lowered and he was pronounced dead minutes later.

In recent decades, states have moved away from the electric chair, and no state now uses electrocution as its main execution method, said Robert Dunham. 

Dunham is the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which doesn’t take a stand on the death penalty but is critical of its application.

Lee Standifer was a mentally handicapped woman who had been on a date with Miller the night she was repeatedly beaten, stabbed and dragged into some woods

Georgia and Nebraska courts both have ruled the electric chair unconstitutional, and about two decades ago it looked as though the U.S. Supreme Court would weigh in on the issue. It agreed to hear a case out of Florida after a series of botched executions there. But Florida adopted lethal injection, and the case was dropped.

Dunham said he wasn’t aware of any state other than Tennessee where inmates were choosing electrocution over lethal injection.

In Tennessee, inmates whose crimes were committed before 1999 can chose electrocution over lethal injection.

Prior to Zagorski’s execution, the builder of Tennessee’s electric chair had warned that it could malfunction, but Zagorski’s and Miller’s executions appeared to be carried out without incident. 

Miller’s death was only the third time Tennessee had put an inmate to death in the electric chair since 1960.

The courts said Miller couldn’t challenge the constitutionality of the electric chair because he chose it, even though his attorneys argued the choice was coerced by the threat of something even worse.

Miller was convicted of killing 23-year-old Lee Standifer in 1981 in Knoxville.

 Standifer was a mentally handicapped woman who had been on a date with Miller the night she was repeatedly beaten, stabbed and dragged into some woods.

Miller used a fire poker to repeatedly bludgeon and stab Standifer, who was born with mild brain damage and with whom he was on a first date, when he suddenly decided she had to die. 

Miller spent 36 years on Tennessee’s death row, the longest of any inmate.

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