Stay ConnectedThere are no witnesses, no fingerprints, and no confession to the 1992 deaths of Tommy Griffin and his sister, Connie Branam in East Tennessee.
There are, however, four alleged and un-investigated alternate suspects, six alibi witnesses, a disgraced medical examiner, a nearly impossible timeline, a bad search warrant, and a man named Gary Sutton sitting on Death Row. Did the state damn the wrong man to die?
A court filing from last week included startling details about the man who attends Tennessee's executions, as well as declarations from attorneys who attended the two botched executions from this year. In Gary Wayne Sutton's Blount County trial, one witness shifts their testimony, and another witness provides a PI with a detail that could have made all the difference in the case.
ðģïļ Where to vote in Tennessee - Election Day is November 3!
ð Burns v. Strada Filing | Mark Fowler Depo | Maria DeLiberato Statement | Randy Spivey Statement
âģ Timeline of Events at the Time of Death Podcast Website
ð Google Map of Places of Note
âïļ Justice for Gary Website
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
Time and trauma warps memories, and that leads to some shifting testimony between what some of the witnesses said in Blount County in 1996 versus what they said in Sevier County in 1992. Also, a closer look at the state's timeline proves impossible as Gary and James couldn't have been in two places at once several different times on February 21, 1992.
ðģïļ Where to vote early in Tennessee
âģ Timeline of Events at the Time of Death Podcast Website
ð Google Map of Places of Note
âïļ Justice for Gary Website
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
In some ways, the Blount County trial was identical to the first, right down to the order in which the state called its witnesses, but one of the waitresses from Howie's Hideaway had a brand new detail to her testimony.
ðģïļ Where to vote early in Tennessee
ð 2022 Review of Tennessee's Lethal Injection Protocol âBuy Beth a Coffee
âģ Timeline of Events at the Time of Death Podcast Website
ð Google Map of Places of Note
âïļ Justice for Gary Website
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
This week, Nashville, Tennessee's Department of Emergency Communications released a series of phone calls that routed through the DEC on the night of September 30, 2026 â the same night that Christa Gail Pike was scheduled to be executed for the 1995 homicide of Colleen Slemmer.
Pike, however, survived.
Her botched execution paved the way for Gary Wayne Sutton's December 3, 2026, execution to be paused while Gov. Bill Lee called for another review of the state's lethal injection protocol.
In this special bonus episode of Time of Death, Beth Braden walks you through the timeline of the phone calls as dispatchers and emergency personnel tried to figure out if the initial 911 call made from the prison was legitimate.
Episode Links: -- Christa Pike discharged from hospital
-- WBIR Timeline of Pike Execution -- Tennessee's Lethal Injection Protocol âBuy Beth a Coffee
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
Gary's formal reprieve was filed, and he has at least a year before the Tennessee Supreme Court can set a new execution date. Christa Pike has woken up after her botched September 30 execution. And finally, Beth gets back to discussing the leadup to the 1996 Blount County trial.
ð 2022 Review of Tennessee's Lethal Injection Protocol
ðĪ LAWYERS: Send Beth an Email
ðĐðūââïļ Judge orders that Christa Pike execution evidence be preserved
ð° Tennessee again taps former US Attorney to review execution protocol
ð° 2023: Frank Strada Appointed to Oversee TDOC
ðïļ A brief history of the death penalty in Arizona
âģ Timeline of Events at the Time of Death Podcast Website
ð Google Map of Places of Note
âïļ Justice for Gary Website
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
Things went terribly, terribly awry when the state of Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Gail Pike on September 30.
It was so bad that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee cancelled Gary Wayne Sutton's Dec. 3 execution, but there is still so much work to do.
ðĢïļ Hear from Christa Pike's Attorneys ð Documents Referenced in the Episode ðđ Replay the Tennessean's livestream of the post-execution press conference
ð° Christa Pike Execution Timeline at The Tennesseean
â Tennesseeans: Register to vote by October 5
ðĢïļ Colleen Slemmer's Mother Speaks After failed Execution
ðĻ Former hotel with notorious past comes down
âģ Timeline of Events at the Time of Death Podcast Website
ð Google Map of Places of Note
âïļ Justice for Gary Website
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
Gary Wayne Sutton's attorneys have formally asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to stay his execution pending the outcome of his intellectual disability claim. Plus, Beth looks at the time period between the Sevier County conviction and the Blount County Trial. ALSO - The Sevier County case files and transcripts are now available on Beth's website.
Episode Links
ð Gary Sutton's Motion for a Stay of Execution
ðïļ Beth appears on Cup of Justice Podcast
âïļ Thomas Clardy Story at the Tennessee Innocence Project
âģ Timeline of Events at the Time of Death Podcast Website
ð Google Map of Places of Note
âïļ Justice for Gary Website
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Did the jury get lost in the weeds when testimony about Gary's headlights dealt a devastating blow to the defense's credibility? Also in this episode, the witnesses used to bolster the state's theory that it was Gary and his uncle, James, beating Tommy Griffin on the side of Alcoa Highway both said they saw a dark colored Chevrolet Camaro. Gary owned a dark colored Camaro, but the witnesses disagreed on a huge detail.
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
A man at Howie's Hideaway, and a woman who tracked Gary across Sevier County cause a huge problem with the state's timeline and theory regarding Connie Branam's death. PLUS - a world renowned forensic anthropologist responded to the scene of Connie Branam's burned car. Find out what he could and couldn't discern from the evidence. Beth also explains how she's keeping the witnesses organized in her head and talks a little bit about the next person scheduled for execution in Tennessee.
Episode Links:
ð° Christa Gail Pike Clemency Petition ðĶī Dr. Bill Bass's Website
ðĶī The Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee
âģ Timeline of Events at the Time of Death Podcast Website
ð Google Map of Places of Note
âïļ Justice for Gary Website
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Beth Braden: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Time of Death Podcast: Facebook | Instagram | Threads | TikTok
Find us at www.timeofdeathpod.com
Changing stories and denials came out as Gary Sutton and James Dellinger's attorneys began cross examining witnesses during the 1993 Sevier County Trial for the death of Connie Branam. But who's telling the truth?
Also - Beth does a deep dive into Dr. Mark Fowler, the physician who oversees executions in Tennessee. It turns out that MD isn't his first career.
Today marks 98 days until Gary Wayne Sutton's December 3 execution.
Episode Links
Stay connected with Beth's reporting and follow along as the stories unfold. Follow us on your favorite platform.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
