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5h ago

Tennessee Executes Darrell Hines for 1985 Murder

The case raises questions about the state's ability to carry out lethal injections humanely.

Catherine Jean Jenkins is remembered by her daughter, Melissa, as a devoted mother, wife, homemaker and woman of faith. Jenkins was 54 when she was fatally stabbed while working at a Kingston Springs motel in 1985. (Photo courtesy of the Jenkins family)
Catherine Jean Jenkins is remembered by her daughter, Melissa, as a devoted mother, wife, homemaker and woman of faith. Jenkins was 54 when she was fatally stabbed while working at a Kingston Springs motel in 1985. (Photo courtesy of the Jenkins family)
Melissa Jenkins, the daughter of Catherine Jean Jenkins, shared her statements on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, following the execution of death row inmate Anthony Darrell Hines. (Photo: FOX 17 News)
Tennessee executed death row inmate Anthony Darrell Hines the morning of Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, less than three months after the state's last execution attempt was called off when the execution team ran into problems establishing the IV access needed for lethal injection. (Photo: TDOC)

Overview

  • State officials said Anthony Darrell Hines was executed by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution and was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026.
  • Family members of victim Catherine Jean Jenkins said the execution brought justice after more than 40 years since her 1985 stabbing and they spoke publicly at the prison after the procedure.
  • Hines spent over four decades on Tennessee’s death row and his lawyers asked courts and the governor to block the execution after he suffered strokes in December 2025 and January 2026 that left him partially paralyzed.
  • Defense attorneys pointed to a May 21 execution attempt of Tony Carruthers in which staff spent more than an hour trying to place a required backup IV line before the state halted the procedure, and they argued Hines’s paralysis heightened the risk of similar problems.
  • Media witnesses reported Hines made loud sounds and showed facial discoloration during the injection, and the case is expected to accelerate calls for independent reviews of Tennessee’s execution protocols, staff qualifications, drug handling, and oversight.