Ultimate Penalty: Tennessee's Last Dead Man Walking

In 1996 the Tennessee legislature was frustrated by the idea that its death penalty had not been carried out since 1960 despite the fact that Death Row was well-populated with bad guys. In a two-part article for Nashville Scene, I went back and looked at who at the time was the last man to sit in the state's electric chair, building a narrative from old newspaper articles, court records and interviews with surviving principals, including jurors and a man who worked the death chamber. The article earned a First Place for Best Feature Story from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. And with Nashville being the Country Music Capital of the World, the article formed the basis for a country song by Scott Bomar (http://www.scottbbomar.com/home.html).