Internet petition seeks reprieve for Thompson

An Internet website and on-line petition have been established for the man on Tennessee's death row for the murder of a Shelbyville woman 21 years ago this week.

The petition created for Gregory Thompson, 43, speaks for itself, according to Sharlott Swanger who, despite repeated e-mail requests for a telephone interview for nearly a month, has not been available to discuss the petition or to describe herself. She said she's waiting for approval from Thompson's attorney.

Thompson is the confessed and convicted killer of Brenda Blanton Lane whom he stabbed in Coffee County after abducting her for her car at a shopping center on Lane Parkway.

Among hundreds of names on the petition are people who signed as Chop Suey Louie and Nuke Mecca. Most use plausible names such as Kristie Thompson, a "white female with no relation to the defendant." Others signed as sam, hunter and one as "-=GOD=-."

"'Thou shall not kill' applies to the state as much as it does toward individuals," is the comment from "-=GOD=-."

Dale Wisely says: "Governor, please -- this is about decency."

Governors can convert a death sentence into life in prison.

The petition asks Gov. Phil Bredesen to do so, claiming prosecutors lied about Thompson's mental illness and his defense counsel failed to provide the jury with evidence of his madness.

E-mail addresses aren't displayed with the petition to reduce the spread of viruses and keep spammers from getting addresses, the on-line petition states.

Therefore, Nuke Mecca can anonymously say "Mohammedans ... should lighten up," and "Mohammed was [an] illiterate, cannibalistic, pedophile barbarian," so Thompson should be executed because "we need the jail space."

Thompson's execution date is Feb. 7 in Nashville.

The petition is not by the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, TCASK Associate Director Alex Wiesendanger said in a telephone interview from the coalition's Nashville office.

TCASK Executive Director Randy Tatel says the petition "has been up for some time ... prior to Thompson's previous execution date," Aug. 19, 2004.

"This campaign and our campaign are focused around the question on whether we should execute people who are screaming mentally ill," Tatel said.

While Bedford County Sheriff Clay Parker questions whether Thompson's execution will occur, an essay on the TCASK web site says the "second execution of a severely mentally ill man may well happen."

Tatel is "hopeful that (Thompson's execution) will be stopped, but we are proceeding as if it won't."

The most recent execution in Tennessee was of Robert Glen Coe on March 19, 2000.

"Since then there have been about 20 execution dates set by the Tennessee Supreme Court and then they were stopped," Tatel said.

TCASK is working to form a network of mental health professionals to challenge Thompson's execution, explaining it's wrong to kill people who are insane.