Tennessee inmate Oscar Smith was executed by lethal injection on Thursday morning for the 1989 murders of his estranged wife Judith Smith and her teenage sons, Jason and Chad Burnett.
Smith, 75, was pronounced dead after a lethal injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital. The 75-year-old had maintained his innocence, and in a lengthy series of final words, in part said, “Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn’t work.” Witnesses also heard Smith say, “I didn’t kill her.”
He was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting Judith Smith, 13-year-old Jason Burnett and 16-year-old Chad Burnett at their Nashville, Tennessee, home on Oct. 1, 1989. He was sentenced to death by a Davidson County jury in July 1990 for the murders.
In 2022, a Davidson County Criminal Court judge denied requests to reopen his case despite some new evidence that the DNA of an unknown person was on one of the murder weapons. The judge wrote that the evidence of Smith’s guilt was overwhelming and the DNA evidence did not tip the scales in his favor.
Two of Smith’s co-workers testified at trial that he had solicited them to kill Judith Smith, and he had a history of threats and violence against her and the boys. Smith had also taken out insurance policies on all three victims. And one of the child victims could be heard yelling what prosecutors said was, “Frank, no!” in the background of a 911 call on the night of the murder. Frank is Smith’s middle name and the one that he used regularly.
Terri Osborne and her brother Mike Robirds miss the sound of their sister’s voice on the other end of the phone, she told reporters after the execution. They’ll never get to plan Chad’s driving lessons or hear the “pure joy of hearing Jason’s laughter” again, she said.
The tragic deaths are a reminder of the devastating consequences of domestic violence, Osborne said.
“We know it is an incredibly hard thing to do to leave a spouse who is abusing, but pray that this case becomes a call to action, encouraging those in danger to seek help before it’s too late,” Osborne said.
Darlene Kimbrough, who knows Smith through her visits to another inmate on death row over the past decade, said she sent him a card recently. It just said, “‘I hope you know that you are loved,’” Kimbrough said. Unexpectedly, she received a letter in reply on Tuesday, thanking her. She thinks that Smith was at peace with the idea of death, she said.
Tennessee executions had been on hold for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps by the Tennessee Department of Corrections. There are 46 people currently on the state’s death row, according to the not-for-profit Death Penalty Information Center, which researches and collects data on the death penalty.
Smith came within minutes of execution in 2022 before he was saved by a surprise reprieve from Republican Gov. Bill Lee. It later turned out that the lethal drugs that were going to be used had not been properly tested. A yearlong investigation turned up numerous other problems with Tennessee executions, which found that the state repeatedly failed to follow its own protocols in performing seven executions and preparing for an eighth between 2018 and 2022.
The correction department issued new guidelines for executions in December. The new execution manual contains a single page on the lethal injection chemicals with no specific directions for testing the drugs. It also removes the requirement that the drugs come from a licensed pharmacist.
Tennessee is not the only state to resume executions after a pause to examine its methods. Indiana resumed executions by lethal injection this week after a 15-year hiatus. Other states have turned to alternative methods.
Idaho lawmakers passed legislation that will make firing squads the state’s primary method of execution starting next year. South Carolina executed two people by firing squad this year. Alabama turned to nitrogen gas, executing four people using the controversial method since 2024.
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