NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee death row inmate has died in prison three days after the state filed a motion to set his execution date.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said 53-year-old Steven L. Hugueley died from apparent natural causes about 2:30 a.m. Friday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
Hugueley was sentenced to death in 2003 for stabbing prison counselor Delbert Steed to death at the Hardeman County Correctional Complex. He was given a life sentence in 1986 for murder of his mother Rachel Waller of Dyer County. He killed another inmate in 1991 while at the West Tennessee High Security prison, then stabbed another inmate six years later at the prison at Brushy Mountain. He was moved to Riverbend later.
Attorney Amy Harwell said Hugueley had been suicidal for years but corrections officials told her "they do not think it was suicide.”
Hugueley’s exact cause of death is pending an examination by the medical examiner.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
