Expiration of reprieve unlikely to lead to Workman execution
MEMPHIS (AP) — The fate of convicted killer Philip Workman will remain uncertain even if an order blocking his execution expires next week.
Workman was scheduled to die in September, but Gov. Phil Bredesen gave him a reprieve until April 15 because of questions surrounding a former medical examiner’s testimony at a clemency hearing. If Bredesen allows the reprieve to expire, the state can seek a new execution date from the Tennessee Supreme Court, but that is unlikely.
“I don’t think anything is going to happen on the 15th,” defense lawyer Kelley Henry said Thursday.
Defense lawyers say former Shelby County medical examiner O.C. Smith gave inaccurate testimony at a clemency hearing in 2001 when he said a .45-caliber handgun belonging to Workman fired the bullet that killed a Memphis policeman in 1981.
Workman, who was caught by police while robbing a restaurant, contends that Lt. Ronald Oliver was killed by a bullet fired by another officer.
Bredesen has directed state medical examiner Bruce Levy to review Smith’s testimony. Levy is expected to give the governor a report on that review next week.
Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker said the governor will decide what to do about Workman after studying the report. Bredesen refused further comment, Lenker said.
The governor has several options. He can let the reprieve expire or extend it. He also can also order a new clemency hearing or commute Workman’s sentence to life in prison.
When the reprieve expires, Attorney General Paul Summers is free to continue efforts to execute Workman, who has been on death row since 1982.
“Technically, we could ask for a new execution date, but we don’t want to undercut the process here,” Summers spokeswoman Sharon Curtis-Flair said. “We’ll just wait and see what the governor does.”
Smith has resigned as medical examiner because of a federal indictment charging him with lying about being attacked by an unknown assailant last year.
Smith was found outside his office wrapped in barbed wire with a bomb tied around his neck. At the time, authorities suspected he was attacked by a death-penalty opponent angry because of his testimony at Workman’s hearing.
Federal authorities refuse to say why they believe Smith lied. Smith says he is telling the truth.
Defense lawyer Henry said Smith’s conviction would raise doubts about his credibility.
He is scheduled for trial next month on charges of lying to federal investigators and possessing a bomb.
The governor refuses to say if his decision on Workman’s fate will be affected by the charges against Smith or his pending trial.
“It would be reasonable for the governor to want to see what’s going on with the case against O.C. Smith,” Henry said.
Defense lawyers are asking the federal courts to order a new trial for Workman. They argue that an autopsy X-ray that would have been helpful to Workman was not shown to his trial jury and a prosecution witness lied about seeing the shooting.