A headstone at Hamilton Memorial Gardens in Hixson reads, “Edith Ivey Russell … 1920 to 1983.”
It adds, “Seeking justice.”
Well, Mrs. Russell, if you are able to see what departing Gov. Phil Bredesen just did, you know that justice will not be done in your case – at least not in this world.
Right before leaving office, the governor commuted the death sentence of Edward Jerome Harbison, who, 28 years ago, bludgeoned you so savagely that he splattered your brains on a wall of your home in St. Elmo.
Rather than face a decidedly gentler death by lethal injection, Harbison will spend the remainder of his life in prison. Taxpayers will not quite cheerfully fund his room, board and medical care, as they have done these decades since he took your life and left your husband, Frank, to grieve and die a year later.