Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee has decided to take a cautious approach to the lethal injection controversy and has granted reprieves ending May 2 to four death row inmates, while ordering the Commissioner of Correction to review and revise the protocols by that date. The press release reiterates the governor's support for the death penalty generally. The text of the order is here.

“Those cases affected include:

State v. Daryl Keith Holton, scheduled to be executed Feb. 28, 2007;
State v. Edward Jerome Harbison, scheduled for Feb. 22, 2007;
State v. Michael Joe Boyd, scheduled for March 7, 2007.
State v. Pervis Payne, set for April 11, 2007.”

Similarly, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has reiterated that the reprieves he granted are simply what he said they were -- to give himself more time to fully consider the clemency petitions -- and that he is not planning a moratorium. "People are reading between the lines, and there's nothing written there," he is quoted as saying in this story by Jim Provance in the Toledo Blade.