Gaile Owens' hitman dies on death row

The man Gaile Owens hired to murder her husband in 1984 has died on death row.

Sidney Porterfield, 71, the oldest man on death row, died of natural causes at 2:47 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction. He died at Lois DeBerry Special Needs Facility, which is where seriously ill inmates are held.

Porterfield is the hitman in one of the state's most notorious murder cases, the killing of Ron Owens in 1984 in Memphis. Gaile Owens, who said she suffered years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at her husband's hands, trolled the streets of Memphis, offering money to anyone willing ot kill her husband. Porterfield took the job and on Feb. 17 of that year, ambushed Ron Owens and beat him mercilessly, striking him 21 times with a tire iron.

Both Porterfield and Gaile Owens were convicted and given the death sentence.

But Gaile Owens' story of abuse and, later, reconciliation with her long-estranged son, prompted former Gov. Phil Bredesen in 2010 to commute her sentence from death to life with the possibility of parole. She was granted parole and released a year later.

Since the death penalty resumed in 2000 from a 40-year hiatus, death row inmates have been far more likely to die of natural causes than execution. Late last year, the state took steps toward resuming executions, asking to schedule an unprecedented number of death row inmates for the lethal injection chamber.

At least 10 inmates are scheduled to die through 2016.

Reach Brian Haas at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @brianhaas.