TN Supreme Court delays Oct. 7 execution of Irick

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday postponed the Oct. 7 execution of Billy Ray Irick.

The court accepted Irick’s appeal to delay his execution in light of an ongoing lawsuit filed by 11 death row inmates challenging the secrecy of the state’s lethal injection procedures and the constitutionality of its backup plan, the electric chair.

Irick, 56, was set to die by lethal injection for the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old Knoxville girl. On Sept. 15, Irick’s attorneys filed a motion to have the date pushed back because their lawsuit hasn’t concluded. Part of the holdup is that attorneys are awaiting a decision from the Tennessee Court of Appeals over whether the state must turn over the identities of its execution team.

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Irick, saying that the state must await the appeals court ruling before proceeding. But the court said that once the ruling is in, “this matter should be expedited to eliminate any further unnecessary delays.” The court also put time limits on any further appeals in the case and ordered an “expedited schedule for resolution” of the ongoing lawsuit, which is being heard in Davidson County Chancery Court.

The state in recent weeks had been gearing up to execute Irick, going so far as to select seven media witnesses and two alternates to view his death. Irick, who has been on death row since 1986, was to be the first of 11 death row inmates set to be executed through 2016.

The court didn’t set a new date for his execution.

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