Workman reprieve won’t be extended, governor announces
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Phil Bredesen announced Thursday he will not extend his reprieve for Philip Workman, meaning a new execution date can be set for the death row inmate.
Workman was scheduled to die by lethal injection in September, but Bredesen gave him a reprieve until Thursday because of questions surrounding a former medical examiner’s clemency hearing testimony.
The governor’s announcement clears the way for the state attorney general’s office to ask the Tennessee Supreme Court for a new execution date, said Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the attorney general.
Bredesen made his decision after receiving what he called a “thorough analysis” from state medical examiner Dr. Bruce Levy.
“It is my opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that Lt. Ronald Oliver was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest fired by Philip Workman,” Levy’s report said.
Levy said he reviewed testimony and exhibits prepared by Smith — including autopsy and police reports and both trial and clemency hearing testimony — and also conducted a “comprehensive review of the events and opinions” concerning the case.
Defense lawyers have contended former Shelby County medical examiner O.C. Smith gave inaccurate testimony at a 2001 clemency hearing when he said Workman’s .45-caliber handgun fired the bullet that killed the Memphis policeman in 1981.
Workman, who was caught by police while robbing a restaurant, contends Oliver was killed by a bullet fired by another officer.
Smith has resigned as medical examiner because of a federal indictment charging him with lying about being attacked by an unknown assailant last year. He 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.
Bredesen said he asked for the report to make sure “nothing that Dr. Smith testified about was inaccurate or inappropriate. … Based on that report, I do not intend to extend the reprieve.”
The governor refused any additional comment “because I expect this matter to be back in front of me again in some fashion.”
Workman’s lawyer, Kelly Henry, said she was disappointed by the governor’s decision, and particularly Levy’s finding that only Workman and Oliver fired weapons. She said Levy refused to consider a sworn statement offered by the defense that a “disinterested bystander” saw another officer firing a shotgun that night.
“We’re disappointed he didn’t conduct a comprehensive review as he promised,” she said.
Though Levy’s report backed up Smith’s assertion that Oliver was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest, it stopped short of saying a .45-caliber bullet recovered at the scene was the one that killed Oliver.
“Dr. Smith’s opinion that it is the fatal bullet to the exclusion of all others is speculative,” Levy 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.