[JURIST] Tennessee's moratorium on executions [executive order, PDF] will expire Wednesday after Gov. Phil Bredesen accepted revised death penalty protocols [PDF text] Monday. Bredesen ordered the moratorium [JURIST report] in February and directed the Tennessee Department of Corrections to conduct a "comprehensive review of the manner in which death sentences are administered... and provide [the governor] new protocols and related written procedures in administering death sentences in Tennessee." The new protocol includes more detailed guidelines for administering lethal injections [JURIST news archive] but still includes a controversial three-drug "cocktail" which some say may be ineffective in preventing inmates from suffering a painful death [JURIST report]. According to a letter from Tennessee Corrections Commissioner George M. Little:

After a rigorous consideration of our options and consultation with the review committee, I have directed the continued use of a three-chemical lethal injection protocol. The decision was based on this type of protocol being a proven method of execution. Tennessee and twenty-nine other jurisdictions have used this general method. It has been found to be humane when properly administered. We have significantly improved the documentation and procedures to support the three-chemical protocol.