Gerald Powers, a Tennessee man who a judge sentenced to death 26 years ago, died Saturday on death row. He was 70.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed in a statement the news about Powers, who was one of 45 male death row inmates in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. A jury convicted Powers of first-degree murder for killing a woman, Shannon Sanderson, in 1996 in Memphis.
His official cause of death is pending the medical examiner’s report, the correction department spokesperson said.
News of Powers’ death comes on the heels of Tennessee deciding to resume executions after a five-year pause. Four men are scheduled for execution this year, and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti asked the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for five others. Powers was not one of those nine individuals.
A car leaves the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee paused capital punishment in 2022 amid concerns about the state’s lethal injection protocol, just 30 minutes before death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith was scheduled for execution. A new execution date for Smith on May 22 is the first of the four scheduled for this year. The Tennessee Department of Corrections announced it finalized a new lethal injection protocol, prompting Lee to lift the hold.
Tennessee is one of only a few states that allow a person to opt for the electric chair, if their crime was committed before 1998.
In 1996, Powers had seen Sanderson at a casino in Tunica, Mississippi, and followed her back to Memphis, where he kidnapped her, according to state Supreme Court records. He then took Sanderson to an abandoned house in Mississippi and shot her to death. He stole the money Sanderson won at the casino and her jewelry.
In addition to first-degree murder, the jury convicted Powers of aggravated robbery. Due to these additional factors and prior convictions, Powers’ sentence qualified for the death penalty. Tennessee Supreme Court justices decided 3-2 to uphold Powers’ sentence in a 2003 ruling, after the justices were divided over whether the lower court properly allowed Powers’ wife to testify against her husband.
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You can reach Liam at ladams@tennessean.com or on social media @liamsadams.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee death row inmate Gerald Powers, 70, dies