Anthony Hines executed in Tennessee for 1985 murder

Anthony Hines, 66, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee. Hines was convicted of the 1985 fatal stabbing of Catherine Jean Jenkins, a mother of four who was working as a motel maid in Kingston Springs at the time of the attack.

Hines’ final words were directed to his son, whom he had not seen since the boy was three years old. The two had reconnected only four days prior to the execution. Hines requested, “Tell my son ‘hello.’” Witnesses reported that Hines groaned and breathed heavily during the procedure before being pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m.

Dennis Jenkins, the son of the murder victim, attended the execution and stated he hoped Hines experienced “severe pain,” noting that his mother had only a plastic spray bottle to defend herself during the attack. Hines had previously filed unsuccessful appeals regarding the competence of the doctor overseeing the execution.

The event was part of a rare triple execution day in the United States, as inmates were also put to death in Oklahoma and Alabama. This marks the first time in 16 years that three executions have occurred on the same day in the country.