Tennessee reinstates electric chair for executions

Tennessee has a solution to perform executions in the absence of lethal drugs.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has signed a bill into law allowing Tennessee to send death row inmates to the electric chair if the state is unable to obtain drugs used for lethal injections.

A Haslam spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday evening that the governor had signed the measure, but offered no further comment.

Richard Dieter is the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Dieter said Tennessee is the first state to enact a law to reintroduce the electric chair without giving prisoners an option.

Dieter says he expects legal challenges to arise if the state decides to go through with an electrocution.