NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An East Tennessee inmate has become the fifth to die in the state's electric chair in the past 16 months.
Nicholas Sutton, 58, was sentenced to death for killing a fellow inmate in 1985. The Tennessee Department of Corrections said he was put to death Thursday by the electric chair at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville.
Sutton was pronounced dead at 8:26 p.m. ET. Witnesses began giving their accounts of the execution at 8:40 p.m.
According to witnesses, he gave a lengthy statement when asked if he had any final words: "I would like to thank my wife for being such a good witness to the Lord, and for my family and many friends for their love and support as they tried so very hard to save my life. Don't ever give up on the power of Jesus Christ to take impossible situations and correct them. He's fixed me. I'm just grateful to be a servant of God and I'm looking forward to being in His presence."
As the curtains were raised, witnesses said Sutton was looking straight at them for a while before the saline solution and equipment were applied, and then he closed his eyes. After the electricity was applied at 8:18 p.m. ET, they said he stopped moving after roughly two minutes.
Following his execution, Sutton's attorney Stephen Ferrell read a statement Sutton prepared:
"I have made a lot of friends along the way, and a lot of people have enriched my life. They have reached out to me and pulled me up, and I am grateful for that. I've had the privilege of being married to the finest woman who is a great servant to God. Without her, I would have not made the progress I have made. I hope I do a much better job in the next life than I did in this one. If I could leave one thing with all of you, it is don't ever give up on the ability of Jesus Christ to fix someone of some problem. He can fix anything. Don't ever underestimate His ability. He was made my life meaningful and fruitful through my relationships through family and friends. So even in my death, I am coming out a winner. God has provided it all to me."
Sutton had been serving a life sentence for three murders committed when he was just 18. After killing a fellow inmate in 1985, he was sentenced to death a year later.
Prior to his execution Thursday night, he was served his last meal of fried pork chops, mashed potatoes with gravy, and peach pie with vanilla ice cream at 3:57 p.m.
In a clemency petition to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Sutton's supporters said he is not the same man who went to prison forty years ago. But Lee said Wednesday that he would not grant clemency.
A Newport childhood friend of Sutton said he spoke with him Thursday afternoon.
"I'm here to tell you that God's real," he said, quoting Sutton.
A few dozen people gathered outside the prison gate to protest the execution as well as the death penalty.
Because he was sentenced to death before 1999, Sutton was able to choose the method of his own execution.
RELATED: Tennessee death row inmate Nicholas Sutton chooses last meal after Gov. Lee declines to intervene
Tennessee inmates sentenced to death are almost certain to face execution. But there have been a few instances in which their lives were spared.
Two Tennessee governors have stepped in over the past 50 years or so.
Gov. Phil Bredesen used his authority three times while in office to intervene, most notably in the case of Gaile Owens, convicted in Shelby County of taking part in a murder plot against her husband.
Sutton has an unusual group of supporters seeking to prevent him from being executed Thursday.
They include current and former prison workers and family members of his victims.
Inmate Carl Estep’s oldest daughter said Sutton did her family a favor. She describes her father as an “evil man.”
Sutton was already serving a life sentence for killing his grandmother, Dorothy Sutton, when he was 18 years old, and he also has been convicted of killing two men in North Carolina, John Large and Charles Almon, also when he was 18.
Sutton has two appeals pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.