News Tennessee execution: Stephen West executed by electric chair Mo Haider 6:27 AM, Aug 15 – NewsChannel5.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee executed Stephen West on Thursday – marking the state’s fifth execution within the last year.

Stephen West was executed by means of electric chair for a double murder more than 20 years ago. He was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m.

In the press conference that followed, a TDOC official read a statement from Eddie Campbell, the nephew of Jack Romines. He was married to Wanda Romines and the father of Sheila Romines, both killed in 1986.

Witnesses also described the execution and a very emotional West before being electrocuted.

Lori Tucker with WATE in Knoxville described West’s last words.

“He said ‘In the beginning God created man.’ and then he started sobbing, at one point almost uncontrollably, and then he said ‘and Jesus wept. That’s all,'” she said.

Steven Hale with the Nashville Scene reiterated West’s emotional state.

“I would emphasize that it was very difficult to watch a man weeping in the electric chair. He was beside himself and that was evident,” said Hale.

West’s attorney says originally, he was supposed to die by lethal injection. However, lawyers say a last-minute decision change to the electric chair may have been a delay strategy that didn’t work.

The Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for West Thursday afternoon, hours before the execution.

At age 23, he was convicted in the 1986 kidnapping and killing a woman and her teenage daughter near Knoxville.

Read more: Facing execution, Tennessee inmate says he wasn’t a killer

Governor Bill Lee denied him clemency, meaning the execution will happen unless the U.S. Supreme Court steps in, which is highly unlikely.

Before Wednesday’s choice of the electric chair, West had refused to select how he would die – meaning the state was planning to use the default method of lethal injection.

Earlier this year, a last-minute decision to use the electric chair in another case , delayed the execution by ten days but the governor’s office says that won’t happen this time.

West selected a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and French fries as his last meal.