Tennessee DA seeks death sentence commutation, AG against

By TRAVIS LOLLER
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s conservative attorney general and Nashville’s liberal district attorney are at odds over whether a death row inmate is intellectually disabled and consequently should not be executed. Byron Black is seeking a ruling that he is intellectually disabled under a 2021 state law. Nashville’s district attorney has said Black is intellectually disabled and supported resentencing Black to life in prison. But the attorney general’s office is handling a Tuesday hearing before the state Court of Criminal Appeals, and it takes the opposite position. They argue Black’s claim that he is intellectually disabled has already been rejected by the courts and he should not get a second chance.