Tennessee death row inmate 2nd to choose electric chair over lethal injection in state

David Earl Miller is requesting to die in the electric chair rather than by lethal injection. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)

A Tennessee inmate on death row who claims lethal injection causes excruciating pain is the second person in the state in just over a month who says he would prefer to die via the electric chair.

David Earl Miller, 61, is scheduled to die Dec. 6 for the 1981 murder of 23-year-old Lee Standifer.

A handwritten note signed by Miller and filed by his lawyers on Monday reads, “I waive lethal injection and wish to be electrocution (sic).” The note is dated Nov. 23, but it was unclear if his attorney was immediately aware of it.

The note from Miller was written at the top of a formal memo from warden Tony Mays at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison that informed Miller that he would be executed by lethal injection unless he chose electrocution, WKRN reported.

With his request, Miller became the second death row inmate in Tennessee to seek electrocution. The first was Edmund Zagorski, who was put to death in the state’s electric chair on Nov. 1.

In Tennessee, prisoners whose crimes occurred before 1999 have the option to choose electrocution. The state’s preferred method is using a midazolam-based, three-drug injection, which Miller’s attorneys argued causes excruciating pain.

Zagorski, 63, -- the second inmate put to death in the electric chair in Tennessee since 1960 -- claimed before his death that he thought dying in the electric chair would be quicker and less painful than a chemical injection.

His execution earlier this month seemed to take place without incident.

In court filings, Miller’s attorneys have requested an extension of a deadline for him to make a choice; however, the state argued his letter to the warden choosing the electric chair rendered any requests moot. A federal judge agreed, signaling Miller’s execution is set to move forward as scheduled, the Tennessean reported.

Earlier this year, Miller and Zagorski sued the state claiming the state’s lethal injection caused searing pain that amounted to unconstitutional torture.

In that case, the Tennessee Supreme Court rejected claims that the midazolam-based lethal injection method is torture after the prisoners failed to show a more humane method was readily available.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt Zagorski's execution and take up the case. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, specifically noting Zagorski's choice to die by electrocution.

"Given what most people think of the electric chair, it's hard to imagine a more striking testament — from a person with more at stake — to the legitimate fears raised by the lethal-injection drugs that Tennessee uses," she wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.