NASHVILLE, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Tennessee's electric chair is to be used to execute a prisoner despite warnings from the chair's designer the voltage is too low.
Daryl Keith Holton, 45, is scheduled to die at 1 a.m. Wednesday in Nashville for the 1997 killings of his three young sons and his ex-wife's 4-year-old daughter, USA Today reported Tuesday.
It would be Tennesse's first execution by electric chair in 47 years.
Holton chose the chair rather than lethal injection, as was his right under state law, despite warnings the chair's voltage is too low from modifications made in the 1990s, the newspaper said.
Fred Leuchter, who built the chair in 1989, said using it is "tantamount to torture" because the voltage is 1,750 volts, as specified by the state, and needs to be at least 2,000 volts, USA Today reported.
State officials maintain the chair is inspected quarterly, was tested last week, and will be used as planned.
