Tennessee death row inmate is set to die in the electric chair. He didn't want the lethal

quote:

---

(CNN)Weeks after choosing the electric chair over lethal injection, a Tennessee death row inmate would be the second person in the state to be executed that way in nearly six decades.

Edmund Zagorski, 63, was sentenced to death for the 1984 murders of two men. His execution is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. (local time).
He requested electrocution on the eve of his original execution date in early October because the state uses a controversial drug in lethal injections.
Zagorski's attorneys argued the lethal injection would make him spend the last 10 to 18 minutes of his life in "utter terror and agony" while the electric chair would only cause him "excruciating pain for (likely) 15-30 seconds," court documents show.

---

quote:

---

Why is the electric chair an option?
Nine states have death by electric chair as an alternative to lethal injection. In 2014, Tennessee became the first state to make use of the electric chair mandatory when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.
By Tennessee law, any person convicted of a capital offense before January 1, 1999, may choose electrocution.
Zagorski began his sentence in March 1984 and the state's prosecutors have argued "the statute also gives the Tennessee Department of Correction the authority to promulgate rules to carry out the election (of electrocution instead of lethal injection)."

---

quote:

---

Zagorski was moved for his final three days to a cell adjacent to the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. He chose pickled pig knuckles and pig tails for his last meal, the department of corrections said Wednesday.

---