The failed execution of Christa Pike has given another Tennessee death row prisoner several additional weeks before his scheduled execution. Gary Wayne Sutton was convicted of helping free a jail inmate before killing him and, the following day, his sister in 1992.
After Pike survived two injections of lethal drugs last week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted all executions planned through the end of the year. The pause affected only one other prisoner.
Sutton had been set to die on Dec. 3. That execution has now been postponed, although the delay’s length remains uncertain.
Sutton has been on death row since his convictions in the February 1992 killings of siblings Tommy Griffin and Connie Branam. The cases were tried separately.
According to court records obtained by Fox News, Sutton, his uncle James Dellinger and Griffin spent the night of Feb. 21 drinking heavily. The evening turned violent after a fight erupted.
Griffin was later found shirtless and covered in scratches along the roadside. Police took him to jail on a public intoxication charge, court records state.
Sutton and Dellinger posted Griffin’s bail. About 30 minutes later, witnesses said they heard three gunshots near the location where Griffin was discovered dead from a shotgun blast to the head.
The next day, prosecutors said, Branam went with Sutton and Dellinger to search for her brother at the bar the group had visited the night before.
Her severely burned body was later found inside a charred vehicle, according to court documents.
Dellinger, who faced the charges alongside Sutton, was also sentenced to death. He died of natural causes on death row before the state could carry out the execution.
Sutton has continued to maintain his innocence. He does not yet have a new execution date for next year, and Tennessee officials have not said when the state will resume carrying out death sentences.
