This is the Mother Jones Podcast. I'm Jimmy Licking in New York.

On today's show, trying to find the moral ground in the fight over America's death penalty.

We take you to a state that's fighting harder than ever to preserve its right to kill people,

while much of the country reckons with whether the state should have that right at all.

Igniting bitter debates about the moral character of America and the meaning of redemption.

A look at whether America is living up to its brightest ideals through the case of one death row

and mate.

Stay tuned. Tennessee is known for innovating things that many people consider to be quintessentially American.

Nashville is the home of country music, Memphis is a birthplace of the blues,

and if you're a carnivore there's of course the barbecue so good.

But it's also a place where lawmakers are finding new and innovative ways to legally kill people,

despite a national trend that's turning against capital punishment.

If there's a state to visit to try to understand this divide in America in 2019, it's Tennessee.

There are battles over the controversial sedative responsible

for several botched executions and executions are going up after a nine-year

break including the recent death of Don Johnson.

Here's the thing about Johnson. His guilt was never in question. He committed a

horrendous crime that devastated his own family. Now more than 30 years later

they were torn over whether his life was worth saving. Mother Jones

reporter Natalie Baptiste was on the ground in Tennessee on the night of Johnson scheduled execution.

Natalie met scores of people who had come to Johnson's defense, unable to stop his execution.

At the center of this debate is a moral question.

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