U.S. prison guards request clemency for heroic death row inmate

WASHINGTON, USA – Current and former prison guards in Tennessee on Tuesday, January 14 asked the southern US state’s governor to spare a death row inmate, claiming he saved the lives of 3 staff members.

Nick Sutton, 59, was sentenced to death for the January 1985 murder of another prisoner, Carl Estep, while he was already serving a life sentence for killing his grandmother in 1979.

Sutton, who was also convicted over two other murders, is to be executed on February 20.

But his attorneys, with the backing of at least 7 current and former prison officials and some relatives of his victims, have submitted a petition for clemency to Republican Governor Bill Lee. (READ: [OPINION] In search for true justice, death penalty is a false solution)

“I owe my life to Nick Sutton,” said corrections officer Tony Eden, explaining that when inmates tried to take him hostage during a 1985 prison riot, Sutton helped escort him to safety.

In 1994, he helped a prison guard who had fallen and lost consciousness by alerting other personnel.

Sutton also helped save the lives of two inmates, his lawyers say.

“I saw Nick grow and change over many years, and I strongly believe that Nick Sutton is not the same man who stood trial for capital murder,” Eden wrote in an affidavit.

“Nick Sutton is a prime example of a person’s ability to change and that those convicted of murder can be rehabilitated.”

Even some members of the jury that sentenced Sutton to death now support his request for clemency, according to a statement from his lawyers.

A judge present for Sutton’s appeal says his defense counsel failed to present evidence about his difficult upbringing, which might have been seen as extenuating circumstances.

Estep’s eldest daughter Rosemary says her family wants to see Sutton removed from death row.

After a nine-year pause, Tennessee reinstated capital punishment in 2018 and has since put 5 inmates to death, 3 of them using the electric chair.

Last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, 22 prisoners were executed in seven states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.

There have been no executions so far in the United States in 2020. Texas has scheduled one for Wednesday, January 15, the DPIC says. – Rappler.com