A death row inmate was put to death in Nashville, Tennessee, early Thursday for the Oct. 1, 1989 murders of his wife and her two teen sons.
“Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn’t work,” Oscar Franklin Smith, 75, said before the execution started. “I didn’t kill her.”
Smith was convicted of killing 35-year-old Judith Smith, 13-year-old Jason Burnett, and 16-year-old Chad Burnett at their Nashville home.
“The boys were brutalized. True evil exists,” said Detective Pat Postiglione.
Although Smith maintained his innocence for decades, one of the boys could be heard screaming “Frank, no! God help me,” in the background of a 911 call they placed during the crime.
An 8-year-old relative discovered the three victims’ bodies in pools of blood, their throats slashed ear to ear. All three were stabbed, with Judith and Chad shot multiple times.
