
Updated: Thursday, August 9, 2018 8:59 pm EDT
The state of Tennessee has executed Billy Ray Irick. For more information, click here.
Updated: Thursday, August 9, 2018 4:11 pm EDT
The Supreme Court of the United States has refused to halt the execution of Billy Ray Irick. Billy and his attorneys were arguing that he is mentally incompetent, therefore ineligible for execution, and that Tennessee's execution protocol will amount to a torturous death.
Updated: Monday, August 6, 2018 10:40 am EDT
Billy Ray Irick is scheduled to be executed at 7:10 pm CDT on Thursday, August 9, 2018, at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee. Fifty-nine-year-old Billy is convicted of raping and murdering 7-year-old Paula Kay Dyer on April 15, 1985, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Billy has spent the past 31 years on Tennessee’s death row.
Billy Irick was friends with Paula’s mother, Kathy, and step-father, Kenneth, and lived with them for a time, looking after their five young children while they worked. On April 14, 1985, Paula was living with her mother, while Irick and her step-father were staying with Kenneth’s mother. Paula’s mother left Irick to watch the children while she went out to look for work. She was uneasy about leaving the children with Irick since he had been drinking, although he did not seem intoxicated. She called Kenneth, telling him her fears. He agreed to check on Irick and the children.
Around midnight, Irick called Kenneth, asking him to come by, saying he was unable to wake up Paula. When he arrived, Paula was lying on the living room floor with blood between her legs. Kenneth checked to see if Paula had a pulse, which she did, and then took her to the Children’s Hospital. Paula was pronounced dead a short time after arriving, as they were unable to resuscitate her.
An autopsy determined that Paula likely died from asphyxiation or suffocation. She also had some bruising and cuts on her face. Additionally, evidence showed she had been raped.
Irick was arrested the following day after he was discovered hiding under a bridge. After being arrested, Irick confessed to the crime. He was sentenced to death on December 3, 1986.