Death row's oldest inmate made final plea of innocence before being executed in state first for over five years

Prior to his execution yesterday (22 May), death row's oldest prisoner begged for his life, claiming he never committed a crime.

36 years earlier, Oscar Franklin Smith was charged with the gruesome murders of his estranged wife Judy Robirds and her two teenage sons, Chad and Jason Burnett, at their home in Nashville, Tennessee.

On 1 October, 1989, Robirds was shot in the neck before being stabbed several times. Her eldest, Chad, was found having been shot in the left eye, as well as the chest and torso. Jason, her youngest son, had been stabbed in the neck and abdomen.

During the ordeal, the trio had reportedly attempt to alert the police, with Chad heard screaming, 'Frank, no!' down the telephone.

In the months prior, Smith had taken out a insurance policy on all three of the victims.

Smith issued a final plea prior to his death (Tennessee Department of Correction)

According to his co-workers, he'd also referenced killing his ex - with whom he also shared infant children - on numerous occasions, having reportedly become convinced that Robird preferred her elder sons to the two kids they shared together.

The following July, Smith was convicted of the triple homicide and sentenced to death.

Throughout the three decades that followed, the cold-blooded killer's execution was ceaselessly put on hold due to appeals, Smith joining a lawsuit claiming that the lethal injection is state-sanctioned torture, the Covid-19 pandemic, and an eventual ban on lethal injections in the state.

In 2022, defendants for Smith also used alleged new evidence of another person's DNA on the weapons that killed Robirds and her sons should be considered by a judge. Their request was subsequently denied, however.

Eventually, the method of death by lethal injection was reinstated, and the date for the 75-year-old's execution was set - 22 May 2025.

Smith died via lethal injection (TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS/AFP via Getty Images)

This would also mark the state of Tennessee's first execution in over five years.

In the minutes prior to being led to the chamber of death, however, Smith is said to have uttered a disturbing final plea to prison guard, proclaiming his innocence.

The convicted killer - who also happened to be death row's oldest prisoner at the time - reportedly told attendees: "Somebody needs to tell the governor the justice system doesn't work."

Smith is then said to have refuted his crime one more time, adding: "I didn't kill her."

At 10:47am on Thursday, the triple-murderer took his final breath at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, after receiving a lethal dose of the drug pentobarbital.