Philip Workman
Philip Workman spent about 25 years on death row in Tennessee, and his brother Terry and spiritual adviser Joe Ingle were with him the night before he died. The State of Tennessee executed him by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on May 9, 2007, and he was pronounced dead at 1:38 a.m. Central time; witnesses said he showed no obvious signs of discomfort. According to the New York Daily News, he asked that a vegetarian pizza be given to a homeless person in place of a last meal, and prison officials refused, though pizzas were later sent to shelters after the story spread. His attorneys argued until the end that the evidence in his case was unreliable and that the revised lethal injection protocol violated the ban on cruel and unusual punishment and left them too little time to challenge it, and critics said the procedures were flawed. State and federal courts rejected those appeals, and in his final moments he prayed that his death not be charged to anyone.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. His attorneys argued the revised lethal injection protocols violated the ban on cruel and unusual punishment and that he lacked time to challenge them, and critics said the procedures were flawed.
Reported by: Tennessee Department of Correction (the agency that held him); Associated Press (reporters).