In a Tennessee Execution Chamber, I Saw Chaos

Ms. DeLiberato has represented defendants in death penalty cases for nearly 20 years.

Last month, I walked into Riverbend Maximum Security Institution to watch the State of Tennessee kill my client, Tony Carruthers.

Nothing prepared me to witness the agony that Mr. Carruthers experienced in the execution chamber. Not the nearly 20 years I had spent as a capital defense lawyer. Not the thousands of hours building cases to keep people alive. Not even having stood in a........

© The New York Times