Tennessee’s top correctional official says there was no issue during the state’s latest electrocution after witnesses reported seeing smoke above the inmate’s head during the execution. Correction Commissioner Tony Parker told The Associated Press on Wednesday that there was no smoke during the execution of the 53-year-old Lee Hall. Instead, Parker says it was steam that hovered during the Dec. 5 electrocution. Gov. Bill Lee says he’s confident in the correction agency’s conclusion that Hall’s execution went as designed. Hall was sentenced to death after being convicted in the 1991 death of his estranged girlfriend.

Also, Tennessee’s pending execution of a black inmate has been put on hold after he raised accusations that racism tainted the jury selection at his trial. A Nashville judge earlier this year approved an agreement with local prosecutors to re-sentence Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman to life in prison. The agreement came after Abdur’Rahman presented evidence that prosecutors at his trial showed a preference for white jurors. Tennessee’s attorney general has appealed the agreement. The state Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that Abdur’Rahman’s April execution date be put on hold until the appeal can be heard.