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Tennessee inmate asks court to stop Thursday electrocution

In this Oct. 13, 1999, file photo, Ricky Bell, then the warden at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., gives a tour of the prison's execution chamber. Attorneys for Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, asked a federal court to force the state to use the electric chair to execute him, rather than lethal injection. The court battle over his Thursday execution played out over a solemn background in which prison staff and volunteers said the death of the well liked inmate will leave an impact. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
In this Oct. 13, 1999, file photo, Ricky Bell, then the warden at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., gives a tour of the prison's execution chamber. Attorneys for Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, asked a federal court to force the state to use the electric chair to execute him, rather than lethal injection. The court battle over his Thursday execution played out over a solemn background in which prison staff and volunteers said the death of the well liked inmate will leave an impact. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) In this Oct. 13, 1999, file photo, Ricky Bell, then the warden at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., gives a tour of the prison's execution chamber. Attorneys for Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, asked a federal court to force the state to use the electric chair to execute him, rather than lethal injection. The court battle over his Thursday execution played out over a solemn background in which prison staff and volunteers said the death of the well liked inmate will leave an impact. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

By Associated Press 1 min read

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski is asking a federal judge to issue an emergency order putting a halt to his Thursday execution.

Zagorski on Friday filed a complaint in the Nashville court of U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger arguing that it is unconstitutional to force him to choose between electrocution and lethal injection. Trauger dismissed that claim, saying the courts had already ruled on the issue.

On Sunday, Zagorski’s lawyers asked the judge to reconsider. They also argued that they need access to a phone during the execution in case anything goes wrong. Trauger ordered the state to respond by mid-day on Monday on that issue.

Zagorski was sentenced to death in 1984 for robbing and killing two men during a drug deal.