Tennessee sets 11th execution date for condemned

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Tuesday set an execution date for a man convicted in the 1991 burning death of his ex-girlfriend.

Lee Hall, formerly known as Leroy Hall Jr., is scheduled to die Jan. 12, 2016. He becomes at least the eleventh death row inmate currently scheduled to die in Tennessee.

Hall was convicted in 1993 of first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated arson, for the death of his ex-girlfriend in 1991. That year, Hall threw gasoline on Traci Crozier, 22, as she sat in her car. He then set her on fire.

Crozier died hours later, after suffering serious burns over more than 90 percent of her body.

The new execution date is part of Tennessee's unprecedented push to begin executing death row inmates after years of inaction. In recent years, the condemned have been far more likely to die of natural causes than execution. Tennessee last executed Cecil Johnson in 2009.

Billy Ray Irick, who raped and murdered a 7-year-old Knoxville girl in 1985, is scheduled to be executed first, on Oct. 7 of this year.

Despite the unprecedented number of scheduled executions, a lawsuit challenging the secrecy of Tennessee's new lethal injection procedures has postponed several execution dates. On Monday, the Tennessee Court of Appeals heard arguments over whether the state should be forced to turn over the names of the execution team. Hall is one of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit.

An appeals court decision could take weeks and lead to further delays in execution dates.

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