Victim’s daughter calls for Tenn. death sentences to be carried out faster after long wait

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3VIEW ALL PHOTOSPhoto of Catherine Jean Jenkins. A renewed debate over Tennessee’s death penalty process follows calls from victims’ families to shorten the time between sentencing and execution. (Photo: WZTV)Comment on this story0CommentShare storySharetopics: TennesseeDeath penaltyExecution delaysAppeals processMelissa JenkinsDarrell HinesChrista PikeCameron SextonNASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A woman who waited four decades for her mother's killer to be put to death by Tennessee is calling for the law to change.

State lawmakers say they are considering speeding up death penalty cases to make sure victims' families get justice sooner.

Melissa Jenkins told FOX 17 News the execution taking so long caused more pain over the years by reopening emotional wounds. She wants lawmakers to make the process of carrying out death sentences quicker.

Catherine Jean Jenkins' grave marker sits at a Nashville cemetery.

PREVIOUS NEWS | Decades after her mother's life was taken, daughter of Mrs. Jenkins prepares for execution

Her daughter, Melissa, says she has found some peace knowing the state put her mother's killer, Darrell Hines, to death at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Aug. 13.

But it took 40 years after her mother's murder for that to happen.

"I shouldn't have to wait 40 years," Jenkins told FOX 17 News over the phone Monday. "Somebody else shouldn't have to weigh 30 or 40 or even 20 to get that little glimmer of hope and that little semblance of peace."

Melissa was 23 years old when Hines was sentenced to death for killing and torturing her mother in Kingston Springs while she was working as a maid at the CeBon Motel.

Melissa finally got justice at 63 years old.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Tennessee executes death row inmate Darrell Hines for 1985 murder of Catherine Jenkins

She is currently living in Florida. Melissa says the execution delay prolonged her healing.

"It just opened the wound again," Jenkins said. "You know, something that was kind of sort of starting to heal and then hearing they come along and rip the bandage off and it's got to start healing again."

The sentence took so long to be carried out that some of Melissa's family members died before the execution.

“I've lost a brother. One of my mom's sisters has passed away. And, you now, I know they would have wanted to be there," said Jenkins.

Jenkins is calling for change to help other families.

"There needs to be a limit on how many appeals can be filed by a death row inmate," Jenkins said.

The next scheduled execution after Hines was Christa Pike, but that execution failed.

POLL: Should there be less time between sentencing and executions in Tennessee?

A jury convicted then 18-year-old Pike of brutally killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995. Prosecutors say Pike tortured Slemmer, carving a pentagram on her body and took a piece of her skull after crushing it.

Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, traveled from Florida to Tennessee with limited financial means, hoping to see her daughter's killer executed. Instead, Pike survived the state's lethal injection attempt.

"She waited this long and now she's probably not going to see it happen," Jenkins said.

Lawmakers, including Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, want to speed up how quickly executions are carried out.

"We need to speed up the appeals process," Sexton said. "You don't need the families suffering that long."

Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty writes in part:

"The process is longer because a life is on the line. Many of the extra procedures are legally required to reduce the risk of mistakes…Streamlining the process would virtually guarantee the execution of an innocent person."

Jenkins disagrees and hopes change can happen soon for those who have lost loved ones and the families who still carry the pain. "If within 10 years you haven't found a shred of anything to prove beyond a doubt that you are innocent," she said, "that needs to be the end of it.”

There is no word yet on whether there will be a special legislative session to address changes to death penalty laws.