NASHVILLE – A Tennessee death row inmate on Thursday selected electrocution for his upcoming execution, a move that would make him the fourth person in the state to choose that method over lethal injection since last year.
A spokeswoman with the Department of Correction confirmed that Chattanooga man Lee Hall, formerly known as Leroy Hall Jr., requested the electric chair for his scheduled Dec. 5 execution.
In Tennessee, the state’s primary execution method is lethal injection but inmates can choose electrocution if they were convicted of crimes before January 1999.
Nationally, electrocution is a rarely-used option – partially due to it being legal in only six states. However, it’s a method that has been requested by three out of the five past death row inmates since Tennessee started resuming executions in August 2018.
Outside of Tennessee, the last time the electric chair was used in an execution was in 2013 in Virginia. Courts in Georgia and Nebraska have declared the electric chair unconstitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court has never fully considered its constitutionality.