The state of Tennessee executed Nicholas Todd Sutton by electrocution Thursday.
"I’m just grateful to be a servant of God, and I’m looking forward to being in his presence, and I thank you," Sutton said before the executioner turned on the electric chair.
Sutton, 58, was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. CST at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. He became the seventh man executed by the state since Tennessee resumed capital punishment in August 2018, the 139th inmate put to death in Tennessee since 1916 and the only Tennessean ever executed for killing a fellow inmate.
The execution: Nicholas Todd Sutton executed by electric chair
His full statement was as follows:
I would like to thank my wife for being such a good witness to the Lord and for my family and many friends for their love and support as they tried so very hard to save my life.
Don’t ever give up on the power of Jesus Christ to take impossible situations and correct them.
He’s fixed me.
I’m just grateful to be a servant of God, and I’m looking forward to being in his presence. And I thank you.
Through his attorneys, Sutton released a similar final statement that was read after the execution. The full text is as follows:
I have made a lot of friends along the way and a lot of people have enriched my life. They have reached out to me and pulled me up and I am grateful for that. I have had the privilege of being married to the finest woman, who is a great servant to God. Without her, I would not have made the progress that I have made. I hope I do a much better job in the next life than I did in this one. If I could leave one thing with all of you, it is, don’t ever give up on the ability of Jesus Christ to fix someone or a problem. He can fix anything. Don’t ever underestimate His ability. He has made my life meaningful and fruitful through my relationships with family and friends. So, even in my death, I am coming out a winner. God has provided it all to me.
Sutton was 18 years old when he killed three people in 1979. He didn't receive a death sentence until he fatally stabbed Carl Estep, a convicted child rapist, at age 23.
Sutton first landed in prison after he knocked his grandmother Dorothy Sutton unconscious and threw her into a river to drown in East Tennessee's Hamblen County. After jurors found him guilty of murder, the teen confessed he had already killed John Large, his 19-year-old friend, and Charles Almon, a 46-year-old man, in North Carolina.
Sutton hadn't served five years on three life sentences when corrections officers found Estep dead of 38 stab wounds in a cell at Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility on Jan. 15, 1985. A jury convicted Sutton and another inmate of first-degree murder in Estep's killing, but sentenced only Sutton to die for the crime.
Sutton's latest legal team did not dispute the horrific nature of his crimes but instead argued he should be spared because he committed them after a childhood marred by abuse and drug addiction, then went on to turn his life around while in prison.
A clemency petition urged Gov. Bill Lee to move Sutton off death row and allow him to serve life without parole instead. Current and former corrections officers lined up alongside jurors and relatives of some of Sutton's victims to support the effort, saying Sutton transformed himself into a model inmate who protected prison staffers from inmate violence and cared for the sick on death row.
Last words by other death row inmates
Twelve other men have been executed in Tennessee since 2000.
Robert Glen Coe, 44: Died by lethal injection on April 19, 2000, for the rape, kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Cary Ann Stout.
Last words: "I love you all with all my heart and soul," to his family. He then said, "I forgive the state of Tennessee for murdering me for something I did not do. I'm not guilty of this crime, and that's the God's truth.
Charlotte Stout, I forgive you, too, for helping the state kill me. Forgive everyone. You all hear me? God loves you. I'm gone. I'll see you in heaven. Bye, bye."
Cecil C. Johnson, 53: Died by lethal injection on Dec. 2, 2009, for the shooting deaths of three people, including a 12-year-old boy, in a Nashville convenience store.
Last words: "I love you," to his family.
Steve Henley, 55: Died by lethal injection on Feb. 4, 2009, for the murder of Fred and Edna Stafford, who were shot before their home was set on fire in 1985.
Last words: "I would like to say that I hope this gives Fred and Edna's family some peace. In my experience in life, it won't. The death of a family member never brings anything but pain ... I wish them the best. I'm sorry Fred and Edna had to go through what they went through. As I've said, ever since this happened, I did not kill them ... I hope they can rest easy when this procedure is done."
He then expressed love to his family and said he was an innocent man. He also told his family gathered in the witness gallery to stop crying.
"You're a pitiful bunch," he said. "I'll see you on the other side. ... Y'all never quit."
Before he died, he shouted that he felt it coming.
Daryl Keith Holton, 44: Died by electrocution on Sept. 12, 2007, for the murder of his three young sons and step-daughter with a high-powered military rifle. His victims: Stephen Edward Holton, 12; Brent Holton, 10; Eric Holton, 6; and Kayla Marie Holton, 4.
Last words: "Um, yeah. Two words: I do."
He made no further statements before his death.
Philip Ray Workman, 53: Died by lethal injection on May 9, 2007, for the murder of Memphis police officer Lt. Ronald Oliver.
Last words: "I've prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ not to lay charge of my death to any man."
He paused for another two minutes then said: "I commend my spirit into your hands, Lord Jesus Christ."
Sedley Alley, 50: Died by lethal injection on June 28, 2006, for the rape and murder of Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins while she was out on a daily jog.
Last words: "Yes, to my children. April, David, can you hear me? I love you. Stay strong," Alley said before thanking the prison chaplain.
"I love you, David. I love you, April. Be good and stay together. Stay strong."
Billy Ray Irick, 59: Died by lethal injection on Aug. 9, 2018, for the rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer in Knox County.
Last words: "I just want to say I'm really sorry. And that ... that's it."
Edmund Zagorski, 63: Died by electric chair on Nov. 1, 2018, for the murders of John Dale Dotson and Jimmy Porter in Robertson County.
Last words: "Let's rock."
David Earl Miller, 61: Died by electric chair on Dec. 6, 2018, for the murder of Lee Standifer, 23, in 1981.
Last words: "Beats being on death row."
Donnie Johnson, 68: Died by lethal injection on May 16, 2019, for the murder of his wife, Connie Johnson in 1984.
Last words: "I commend my life into your hands. Thy will be done. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen."
Stephen Michael West, 56: Died by electric chair on Aug. 15, 2019, for the 1986 murders of Wanda Romines, 51, and Sheila Romines, 15, in their East Tennessee home.
Last words: "In the beginning, God created man ... And Jesus wept. That's all."
Lee Hall, 53: Died by electric chair on Dec. 5, 2019, for the fiery 1991 slaying of Traci Crozier, his 22-year-old ex-girlfriend, in Hamilton County.
Last words: "I think people can learn forgiveness and love and make the world a better place. That's all I have to say."
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