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Tennessee Supreme Court stays West's execution, three others

Stephen Michael West
Tennessee Department of Corrections photo
Stephen Michael West

By Jacque Day

Nashville, Tenn. – The Tennessee Supreme Court has postponed four scheduled executions. Death row inmate Stephen Michael West filed a motion to postpone after a Davidson County Chancery Court ruled the state's lethal injection procedure to be unconstitutional. West was scheduled for execution Tuesday. Until the issue is resolved, the Court has also stayed the December-scheduled execution of Billy Ray Irick as well as the executions of Edmund Zagorski and Edward Jerome Harbison, scheduled for January and February respectively. A final judgment is due in 90 days.