[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENNESSEE

[Rick Halperin]

October 8


TENNESSEE----impending execution

2 Jurors In Zagorski Case Argue For Life Without Parole Ahead Of Execution



With days until his scheduled execution, 2 jurors who condemned Edmund Zagorski 
to death say the convicted murderer's life should be spared.

Michael Poole served on the jury in 1984, before life without parole became an 
option in Tennessee capital murder cases in 1995.

"We were instructed that if we were assured beyond any doubt that Mr. Zagorski 
had done this crime, that he should be given the death penalty because that's 
what the prosecution was actually seeking in this case," Poole told WPLN 
Friday.

Poole says he had no doubt that Zagorski committed a double murder in 1983, 
shooting and slitting the throats of a Hickman County logger and a bar owner 
from Dickson. The men expected to buy 100 pounds of marijuana.

Poole says the jury's concern was making sure Zagorski could never be released 
and potentially commit the same crime again. The small business owner from 
Springfield says he's not entirely opposed to the death penalty but says 
Zagorski doesn't have to be executed.

Juror Nancy Arnold shares the same feelings, 34 years later.

"I hate for him to have to lose his life over it. I don't think that's going to 
help anything," she told WPLN Sunday.

Arnold says she vividly recalls Zagorski's eyes during the trial and 
sentencing. They "were so penetrating," she says. And she was sure to look him 
in the eyes when the verdict was delivered.

But the graphic designer from Robertson County says she's tried to forget about 
the case, though she does feel like the jury would have supported midde ground 
rather than death.

"If there had been a choice of life without parole, I would have chosen that 
over what we did," she said.

No Intervention

Zagorski is set to be put to death by lethal injection on Thursday at Riverbend 
Maximum Security Prison. He asked Governor Bill Haslam for clemency based on 
good behavior while in prison.

But on Friday, Haslam denied the request.

"While Zagorski has exhibited good behavior during his incarceration, that does 
not undo the fact that he robbed and brutally murdered two men and attempted to 
kill a police officer while on the run. Further, while juries today have the 
option of imposing a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of 
parole in capital cases, the jury in Zagorski's case heard the evidence at 
trial and rendered a unanimous verdict in accordance with the law at the time 
and their duty as jurors."

Haslam also noted the verdict in Zagorski's case has been upheld by 10 courts, 
including the Tennessee and U.S. Supreme Courts.

In August, Haslam also declined to intervene in the execution of Billy Ray 
Irick.

The Tennessee Supreme Court is expected to rule on an expedited case 
challenging the state's lethal injection protocol in the coming days, which 
could also have a bearing on Zagorski's fate. If not, his attorneys say they 
will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay of execution.

(source: nashvillepublicradio.org)