Man who was set to be executed after Christa Pike maintains innocence amid disputed evidence
Christa Pike’s failed execution may have paused executions in the state of Tennessee, but it won’t stop inmate Gary Wayne Sutton from being scheduled for next place.
Originally set for 3 December, Sutton’s lethal injection has since been postponed pending a 'comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred' in Pike’s case.
However, that doesn’t mean Sutton has been given a stay of execution – which is when an inmate will no longer be put to death. Instead, no executions will take place until Pike’s investigation dictates they can resume.
But once they’re back up – Sutton's death sentence should resume as normal, placing him as the next person to be injected with the deadly chemical.
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Sutton, 61, was the only other person Tennessee was set to execute this year after he was sentenced to death along with his uncle for the murder of Tommy Griffin, 24, and Griffin's sister, 34, in 1992.
Why does Gary Wayne Sutton maintain his innocence?
Despite maintaining his innocence and petitioning that he is intellectually disabled and should not be killed, his execution date was set, and he was initially scheduled to be executed back in 2022. But it was rescheduled for this year, and for a number of reasons, the case is controversial in the death penalty debate.
Sutton always claimed he is innocent, and his legal team have fought to have his conviction overturned, citing that the evidence does not prove he was the murder in the case of Tommy.
According to a statement from his attorneys, per AP News: “The scientific evidence linking Gary to the case is from disgraced state medical examiner Charles Harlan who was later stripped of his license.”
Former medical examiner Harlan claimed the date and time matched that of when the pair were together, but this has been disputed in the years before and after Harlan was stopped from working in his field.
Griffin was Sutton’s alleged friend, and ‘there is no motive for the crime and no direct evidence linking Gary to the murder,’ said his legal team.
In August, Sutton and his representatives filed a petition to stop his execution due to the supposed intellectual disability, where the court documents claim Sutton was ‘an alcoholic, drug abuser, and already had diminished capacity’ prior to the killings.
To prove it, they ‘wanted to have his capacity measured as he was at the time of the murder,’ which was allegedly intoxicated. Sutton ended up doing the I.Q. testing while drunk to prove he wouldn’t have been able to kill Tommy at the time of the crime.
But the case was thrown out, and he was not found to have an intellectual disability, despite being found to have an I.Q. of 76. Further to this claim, Sutton had previously launched an appeal in court, citing that the ‘trial counsel conducted an inadequate investigation and presented insufficient mitigating evidence of Sutton’s family background at sentencing.’
This was denied.
Why is being intellectually disabled a problem for state execution?
Sutton’s public defender, Susanne Bales, has called his failed court pleas, a ‘problem’.
She said, per AP News: “We join many Tennesseans in being gravely concerned about Gary’s fate and are working within the bounds of our legal system to ensure that Gary is not executed for a case that is riddled with problems. The scientific evidence linking Gary to the case is from disgraced state medical examiner Dr. Charles Harlan who was later stripped of his license. Gary is also intellectually disabled, and that claim is currently pending in state court. Gary has always maintained his innocence, and we will continue to work hard to fight for him.”
With issues in the case such as his girlfriend providing him with an alibi for the time of the killings, and that there were ‘other credible suspects who had motive and opportunity to commit Tommy’s murder,’ per an online petition to stay his execution, Sutton’s supporters remain firm.
Sutton’s team maintains that he is intellectually disabled, and say this alone should stop him from facing the death penalty, as executing a person with intellectual disability is prohibited under both federal and state law.
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities would be in violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
"Evidence of Sutton’s intellectual disability raises serious questions about how his original 1996 trial was conducted, and whether he was meaningfully able to assist his attorneys in that proceeding," Sutton’s attorney statement reads.
Now, with Pike’s case open and being looked into, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced a pause on all executions through to the end of the year, meaning Sutton’s date will be revised once again.
Lee said at the time: “Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective.
“Therefore, the remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year.”
Sutton’s legal team from the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender, said in a statement regarding the postponed date: “This news gives us little joy, because nobody should be forced to suffer the way Christa Pike did this week and Tony Carruthers did in May.
“Still, we are relieved that Governor Lee is taking the deep problems with the state’s execution protocols seriously, and we are thankful that Gary’s execution has been paused.”
The statement added: “While the state interrogates its own procedures, our work on Gary’s behalf continues. Gary, his family and those who know him have all maintained his innocence for more than 30 years. In addition, Gary’s documented intellectual disability prohibits his execution by both state and federal law. We are confident the courts will agree and make Gary’s temporary stay of execution permanent.”
Will Gary Sutton still be executed?
Sutton's death sentence remains in place and Tennessee does not need to retry his case or obtain a new death sentence.
The execution can go ahead if the reprieve is ended or lifted and the state decides to resume executions after review. But, critically, the Tennessee Supreme Court must set a new execution date.
Given it was a reprieve, prosecutors don't have to start a fresh request. Ahead of then, though, any current legal challenges have to be resolved, including appeals from Sutton's legal team to stop the execution.
Britt Jones