Sutton becomes fifth inmate executed by electric chair

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A Tennessee inmate has become the fifth person executed in the state’s electric chair in a span of 16 months.

Nicholas Sutton was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. Thursday at a maximum security prison in Nashville.

In his last words he thanked friends and family for their love and support and said he was looking forward to being in the presence of God.

Supporters, including prison workers who credited Sutton with saving their lives, sought in vain for clemency.

Sutton was sentenced to death in 1986 for killing a fellow inmate.

The 58-year-old had already been serving time for the killings of his grandmother and two others when he was 18.