NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Latest on the upcoming execution of a Tennessee inmate (all times local):
4:25 p.m.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee won’t stop Thursday’s execution of an inmate who says his accomplice was the one who fatally stabbed a mother and daughter in 1986.
Lee said in a statement Tuesday he won’t intervene after reviewing 56-year-old Stephen West’s case.
West was convicted of the kidnapping and stabbing deaths of 51-year-old Wanda Romines and her 15-year-old daughter, Sheila Romines, and of raping the teen.
In a clemency plea, West said his then 17-year-old accomplice, Ronnie Martin, actually killed both victims. West was 23 at the time. Their cases were separated, and West was sentenced to death. Martin pleaded guilty as a juvenile and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole in 2030.
The clemency plea says West has been taking powerful medication to treat mental illness in prison.
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10 a.m.
Tennessee inmate Stephen West is on death watch in anticipation of his lethal injection Thursday.
State corrections officials said Tuesday that inmates on death watch are placed in a cell next to the execution chamber where they’re under 24-hour surveillance.
Visits are non-contact until the day before the execution, when the warden will decide whether the 56-year-old West can have a contact visit.
West was convicted of the 1986 kidnapping and stabbing deaths of a mother and her 15-year-old daughter, and of raping the teen. West has denied he’s a killer, saying his then-17-year-old accomplice killed both. The co-defendant received a life sentence, with parole possible in 2030.
Gov. Bill Lee hasn’t decided on clemency. He told reporters Monday he trusts the criminal justice process that made a determination years ago in West’s case.
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