On Thursday, a convicted murderer was executed in Tennessee’s electric chair, marking the fifth prisoner in over 16 months to opt for electrocution over the state’s preferred method of lethal injection.
Sutton’s final meal, served approximately three hours before his execution, included fried pork chops, mashed potatoes with gravy, and peach pie with vanilla ice cream, within the typically allowed $20 budget for death row inmates, as reported by the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Nicholas Sutton, aged 58, was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, announced the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Having married his wife Reba in 1994 while in prison, Sutton gave a statement after being strapped into the chair, expressing gratitude to his wife, family, and friends for their support and attributing his transformation to Jesus Christ’s influence on him.
“I’m just grateful to be a servant of God, and I’m looking forward to being in his presence,” Sutton stated in front of witnesses.
Continuing, he said, “I have had the privilege of being married to the finest woman, who is a great servant to God. Without her, I would not have made the progress that I have made. I hope I do a much better job in the next life than I did in this one.”
Back in 1986, Sutton was sentenced to death for the murder of fellow inmate Carl Estep during a confrontation over a drug deal at an East Tennessee prison. Prior to this, Sutton had been serving time for the murder of his grandmother, Dorothy Sutton, and his high school friends John Large and Charles Almon in 1979 at the age of 18.
During a shift change on January 15, Sutton and Thomas Street entered Estep’s cell and fatally stabbed him 38 times in the chest and neck using two homemade knives, as stated by prosecutors.
One of the inmates revealed that Estep, a marijuana dealer at the facility, had supplied them with ‘bad merchandise’ and refused to provide a refund. Following this, Estep threatened to kill Sutton after the men took his watch.
In the subsequent 1986 trial, Sutton was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Street, his accomplice, received a life sentence, while a third alleged participant was acquitted.
Estep’s oldest daughter expressed gratitude towards Sutton for killing her father, whom she described as an ‘evil man’. She detailed her father’s history of criminal activities, including rape and arson, and described his death as a relief.
‘To say that was the best day of my life is an understatement,’ she said in a statement included in Sutton´s clemency petition.
‘I felt as though a 100-pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I thought to myself, ‘There is a God!”
Supporters of Sutton, including several family members of his victims and prison workers, had petitioned Governor Bill Lee to commute his sentence, emphasizing Sutton’s rehabilitation during his time in prison. However, Lee declined to intervene in the execution.
Anti-death penalty activist Dan Mann shared that he and another activist had prayed with the governor, who requested their prayers due to the difficulty of his decision.
Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court were turned down on Thursday evening without an explanation provided by the justices, reported The Associated Press.