Tennessee has a new lethal injection method, 2.5 years after last scheduled execution was abruptly halted

More than 2 years after Tennessee abruptly halted the execution of inmate Oscar Smith — admitting that correction officials were not following their own execution protocols — the state has announced a new method that could allow it to resume executions halted since May 2022. But that won't happen right away.

The Tennessee Department of Correction announced in a brief statement Friday it had "completed its revision of the lethal injection protocol, which will utilize the single drug pentobarbital." The Department did not immediately release the new protocol to the public or give any further details.

Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender's habeas unit that represents many of Tennessee's death row inmates, said the announcement was "notable for its lack of detail."