Tennessee has postponed tonight’s scheduled execution

“Due to an oversight in preparation for lethal injection"

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WDEF) – Tennessee’s push to resume executions after the pandemic hit a speed bump tonight.

Convicted killer Oscar (Frank) Smith was scheduled to die Thursday night for the murders of his wife and her two teenage sons.

But the execution was postponed at the last minute.

Governor Bill Lee released this statement:

“Due to an oversight in preparation for lethal injection, the scheduled execution of Oscar Smith will not move forward tonight. I am granting a temporary reprieve while we address Tennessee Department of Correction protocol. Further details will be released when they are available.”

Smith was the first of 5 scheduled executions in Tennessee this year, because of a backlog created by the pandemic.

Chattanooga serial rapist and murder Harold Wayne Nichols is next up.

His execution is scheduled for June 9.

Frank Smith was convicted of the brutal murder of his estranged wife and her two teenage sons in 1989.

He had had violent confrontations with the boys before and his wife had filed divorce papers against him.

On the night of the murders, police got a 911 call of the two boys screaming for help and one yelling “Frank, no.”

But when officers arrived 5 minutes later, they saw no signs of violence from the outside and wrote it off as a prank call.

The bodies of all three victims were found the next day.

They had each been shot and stabbed multiple times, including having their throats cut.

The coroner ruled all the wounds happened before death.

To this day, Smith maintains he did not do it.