Family of death row inmate calls for Tennessee governor to examine case in Christmas plea

Show Caption

The family of a Tennessee man on death row called on Republican Gov. Bill Lee to reexamine the case for a potential pardon at a press conference Friday.

"I'm just begging you, Governor Lee, all we are asking is to just sit down and look at Gary's case," Carolyn Miller, a part of the group "Justice for Gary Wayne Sutton," said.

Gary Wayne Sutton was convicted for the 1992 murders of siblings Tommy Griffin and Connie Branam in Blount County, located south of Knoxville. Sutton has maintained his innocence in the case and advocates for him have argued that the case against Sutton was flawed.

Miller told Paste BN in an interview ahead of the press conference that she was in a relationship with Sutton at the time of the murders and reconnected when she saw that he was, at the time, one of the next nine people to be executed.

"What we're asking the governor to (is) just sit down and look at this," Miller told Paste BN. "You will see what we're talking about. At this point he is to only one that has the power to help."

The call for a reexamination was echoed by James Sutton, Gary’s 94-year-old father, who spoke at the press conference.

“Oh it hurt me. It hurt me real bad. Gary didn’t do nothing like that,” Sutton said of his son's conviction.

The US has executed 23 men this year: A look at the state of the death penalty

Press conference highlights pain death row families suffer at Christmas

Noted anti-death penalty activist Rev. Jeff Hood, who spoke at the press conference titled "Not Another Christmas Without Gary," told Paste BN in an interview ahead of the press conference that acting as a spiritual advisor to those on death row during the holiday season brings clarity to his work.

"Christmas is a moment that speaks to what is possible in terms of our criminal justice system, that that love can break in, can change the hardest of hearts, and love can make things whole," Hood told Paste BN.

Miller told Paste BN that the holidays were difficult for families of those on death row.

"It's just harder on the holidays because this is the time of year you should be with your family," Miller said.

Hood said that holding the press conference during the holiday season sharpened the message advocates are attempting to send to the governor.

"When we say not another Christmas without Gary, we are acknowledging that something is wrong. Something is deeply wrong. This is a grave injustice, and it is our job to make it right," Hood said.

Private investigator questions state's case

Heather Cohen, a private investigator in Tennessee, reiterated previous statements against the prosecutor's case.

"It is the worst case of injustice that I've ever seen," Cohen said. "Gary represents everything wrong with the justice system. It is an example of what happens when the integrity of the investigation is not upheld."

Advocates for Sutton pointed to recanted witness testimony, the placement of shotgun shells and the stripping of the license of the medical examiner who testified in the case as reasons for Lee to look at the case.

"As a Southerner, having lived all over the South, in some of these backwoods places I lived and loved, there is a rush to judgment because people were afraid. And in this situation, there's no doubt that took place," Hood said at the press conference.

Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond stood behind the conviction in a statement published by Knoxville television station WVLT, noting that the case has gone through extensive appeals.

"Dozens of judges have reviewed his case and concluded that the evidence was more than sufficient to uphold his convictions," Desmond wrote. "This includes a review of the 'new' evidence he claims supports his exoneration."

Lee paused executions in 2022 and ordered a third-party review of the state's execution protocol moments before Oscar Franklin Smith was set to be executed. An investigation by the Tennessean − a part of the Paste BN Network − found that the state and its contractors regularly deviated from the lethal injection protocol Tennessee instituted in 2018, likely resulting in the execution of the two convicted murderers using expired, compromised or untested drugs.

In September, Lee told Knoxville television station WATE that the state was “closer than further” to having a protocol that would cause the state to restart executions. Tennessee Department of Correction commissioner Frank Strada told state lawmakers in October that the department would have the protocol ready by the end of the year, according to WKRN.