The Tennessee prison system doesn't have the drug needed to carry out a lethal injection, and ongoing issues with accessibility of the drugs call in to question the likelihood Tennessee could obtain those drugs when the next execution is scheduled.
But if executions resume in Tennessee - the last was in 2009 - the state will be ready to administer a lethal injection, said Tennessee Department of Correction General Counsel Debbie Inglis.
Carrying out death sentences has stalled, as the state's top judges weigh a challenge to Tennessee's protocol, which calls for the state to use the drug pentobarbital for its injections.
Read more at our news partner's website, tennessean.com.
STATES THAT EXECUTE
Alabama: Lethal injection or electrocution Arizona: Lethal injection or gas Arkansas: Lethal injection or electrocution California: Lethal injection or gas Colorado: Lethal injection Florida: Lethal injection or electrocution Georgia: Lethal injection Idaho: Lethal injection or firing squad Indiana: Lethal injection Kansas: Lethal injection Kentucky: Lethal injection or electrocution Louisiana: Lethal injection Mississippi: Lethal injection Missouri: Lethal injection or gas Montana: Lethal injection Nebraska: Electrocution Nevada: Lethal injection New Hampshire: Lethal injection or hanging North Carolina: Lethal injection Ohio: Lethal injection Oklahoma: Lethal injection, electrocution or firing squad Oregon: Lethal injection Pennsylvania: Lethal injection South Carolina: Lethal injection or electrocution South Dakota: Lethal injection Tennessee: Lethal injection or electrocution Texas: Lethal injection Utah: Lethal injection Virginia: Lethal injection or electrocution Washington: Lethal injection or hanging Wyoming: Lethal injection or gas