Tennessee Executes Man Convicted in 1985 Killing of Motel Maid

Tennessee executed Anthony Darrell Hines on Thursday for the 1985 murder of a motel maid, marking the second of three executions scheduled across the United States on the same day.

Hines, 66, was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT at the River Bend Maximum Security Institution. His final words were "Tell my son hello."

Hines was convicted in the stabbing death of Catherine Jean Jenkins, a 54-year-old motel maid in Kingston Springs. He was initially sentenced to death in 1986, but after a successful appeal for a new sentencing hearing, he was again sentenced to death in 1989.

Frank Strada, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, confirmed the execution was carried out by lethal injection pursuant to a Supreme Court order.

Jenkins' family members spoke after the execution, describing the brutal nature of the crime and the decades of grief they have endured. Her daughter, Melissa Jenkins, thanked investigators and prosecutors for their work in securing accountability.

Hines' execution came just three months after the state called off the attempted lethal injection of another inmate, Tony Carruthers, due to difficulties inserting an IV. Hines had appealed to the governor and courts, arguing that the doctor who oversaw the May execution was unqualified and that his own thinness and muscular atrophy from two strokes could cause similar IV complications.