The detainee wanted the electric chair, the state said no

Edmund Zagorski was convicted of the murder of John Dale Dotson and Jimmy Porter in April 1983. He shot at them, slit their throats and stole their money and a truck, prosecutors said. The two men were waiting to buy 100 pounds of marijuana in Zagorski.

Earlier this week, Zagorski chose the electric chair as the method of execution. His decision was announced Monday after the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection executions could take place.

Here's what you need to know as Tennessee prepares to kill Zagorski, the second to be sentenced to death this year after Billy Ray Irick's execution in August.

The Zagorski legal team is still trying to block the execution

The lawyers have filed in court a series of documents attempting to stop Zagorski's execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, including an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

In the appeal, they argued that the Tennessee Supreme Court had found them "normal and impracticable" during a legal challenge of the state 's lethal injection method.

Zagorski and 31 other death row inmates filed a lawsuit to prevent the state from using a controversial cocktail of three drugs during executions. Experts say the drugs would cause such pain that they would violate the US Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

October 9th: Death sentence to be executed Thursday chooses electric wheelchair for execution

September 8th: The execution of a Tennessee detainee is an act of torture, according to an expert in a new case

The state high court did not take this argument into account at all, claiming that the detainees had not provided a feasible substitution drug.

In the appeal to the United States Supreme Court, Zagorski's lawyers claimed that the Tennessee court failed to do so by speeding up the appeal process and then ignoring the merits of his complaint. They asked the Supreme Court to stay its execution and to review the case.

"The Tennessee Supreme Court has refused to deal with the level of suffering that the three drug protocol would cause at all," the lawyers wrote.

A separate application for a stay of execution is pending before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeal.

Zagorski asked for the electric chair

After the Tennessee Supreme Court made its decision on Monday, Zagorski told the prison authorities that he preferred to die by electric chair only by lethal injection.

In an affidavit sent to the prison authorities, Zagorski described it as a choice between two evils.

"Between two unconstitutional choices, I chose the electrocution," he said, reiterating his belief that the two methods of state execution violated the eighth amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. "I do not want to be subjected to the torture of the current lethal injection method."

The state has "refused" his request, according to his lawyer

The Tennessee correction department has "refused" to follow Zagorski's wishes to use the electric chair, according to his lawyer, Kelley Henry, a federal public defender. Prison officials said it was "too late" to avoid a lethal injection.

Agency spokeswoman, Neysa Taylor, declined to answer questions about Zagorski's preference for the electric wheelchair, citing pending cases.

Prison staff learn how to use the wheelchair every month and test it in February.

August 10th: This is what happened inside and outside the prison after the killing of Billy Ray Irick.

August 9th: Tennessee executes Billy Ray Irick, the first lethal injection in the state since 2009

The prison authorities urged Zagorski to monitor to death, a further period of regulation and observation in the three days preceding the execution.

Zagorski was transferred to a cell next to the execution chamber and placed under surveillance 24 hours a day.

Spiritual advisor says state wants to "torture" Zagorski

Reports of the suffering inflicted on death row convict Irick during his lethal injection on August 9 partly motivated Zagorski's request for an electric chair, said Reverend Joe Ingle, Minister of the United Church of Christ and Zagorski's spiritual advisor.

The details of Irick's execution are well-known on death row, said Ingle, who has been ministering there for decades.

"I think the guys had the impression that Billy Irick had suffered a lot and nobody wanted to go through that," Ingle said. "As bad as the electric chair is, and it's bad enough, it's not that."

The decision not to follow Zagorski's request led Ingle to question the morality of the state.

"The state of Tennessee is not just about electrocuting a human being, but wants to do everything to challenge the status of Tennessee and torture it to death," Ingle said.