Anthony Darrell Hines was executed by lethal injection in Nashville on Thursday morning after Governor Bill Lee said he would not intervene in his clemency request. He was declared dead at 10:43 a.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
Hines said, “Tell my son I love him,” before the injection. Katherine Dix, who represented him, later said, “I’d like to start by saying that I grieve for the family of Catherine Jean Jenkins. May God be with you.”
Riverbend Maximum Security Institution
The execution began at approximately 10 a.m. and ended 43 minutes later. Hines was convicted of first-degree felony murder for the 1985 killing of Catherine Jean Jenkins.
According to court documents, Catherine Jean Jenkins was a maid at the CeBon Motel off Interstate 40 in Kingston Springs. On March 3, 1985, her body was found wrapped in a sheet in one of the motel rooms.
Bill Lee and clemency
Lee said on Tuesday, “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene.” That left the execution on track and ended the last effort to stop it before Thursday morning.
The case returned Tennessee to executions after the failed Tony Carruthers attempt at the end of May. The Tennessee Department of Corrections said that execution was called off after a doctor was unable to establish the required backup line, and Lee later granted Carruthers a temporary reprieve for one year.
Dennis Jenkins
Attorneys for Hines and dozens of medical professionals objected to the same doctor’s role in the procedure after the Carruthers attempt, but the execution proceeded anyway. Katherine Dix said, “On Darrell, of course, who was poisoned to death, just moments ago. On those of us required by our jobs to stand passively and watch Darrell be murdered.”
Dennis Jenkins, the son of Catherine Jean Jenkins, responded after the execution: “For those of you who may be concerned as to whether or not this animal suffered, let me tell you what he did to my mother 41 years ago,” he said, adding, “...yes, I hope he did suffer. I hope he felt severe pain...to those hot-shot attorneys out there that are trying to make a name for yourselves by defending these cold-blooded murderers...I don’t understand your mentality.”
