NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A death row inmate in Tennessee died Wednesday of “apparent natural causes,” state officials said.
On Thursday, the state Department of Correction announced that 50-year-old Marlon Kiser was pronounced dead the night before at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
The department says Kiser’s cause of death is pending the medical examiner’s determination.
Officials say there have been no COVID-19 cases in Kiser’s assigned housing unit. The state says the prison has seen 74 confirmed cases, and all those who have tested positive to date have recovered.
Kiser was sentenced to death in the 2001 deadly shooting of Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Kenneth Bond Jr. in Chattanooga.
There are 50 inmates on Tennessee’s death row.
Attorneys for Kiser wrote that they were still fighting his case in court. They said that in their last call with Kiser, who went by his middle name Duane, he “said he cared for us and wanted us to be safe and healthy.”
“It was our honor, and the honor of the defense investigators and professionals working with us, to fight for Duane,” wrote Stephen Ross Johnson, Wade Davies and Benjamin McGowan. “All human life has value, and Duane’s life had value and meaning. May he rest in peace.”
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