A federal appeals court has turned down the appeal of a death row inmate who has chosen electrocution over lethal injection but now argues that electrocution is unconstitutional. Gary Bradford Cone was convicted in 1982 of bludgeoning to death an elderly Memphis couple -- Shipley and Cleopatra Todd -- while hiding out in their home on Evergreen near Poplar after robbing a jewelry store. The Sixth U.S. Court of Appeals has twice set aside Cone’s death sentence, once ruling that his trial lawyer was ineffective and then again after finding that the jury instructions were unconstitutionally vague. The U.S. Supreme...
