NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has executed its third inmate in the electric chair since November, killing a man who maintained that he didn’t fatally stab a mother and her 15-year-old daughter in 1986.
State officials pronounced 56-year-old Stephen West dead at 7:27 p.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
West was also convicted of raping the teen.
West said his then-17-year-old accomplice killed 51-year-old Wanda Romines and her daughter, Sheila Romines. West was 23 at the time. The juvenile co-defendant received a life sentence, with parole possible in 2030.
In a court filing, the state said West brutally stabbed the victims to death.
Gov. Bill Lee denied West’s clemency application, which also said West had been taking powerful medication in prison to treat mental illness.
Two Tennessee inmates have also died by lethal injection since August 2018.
