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Tennessee Executes Inmate With Active Defibrillator Despite Pain Complaints

This case spotlights jurisdictional disputes over deactivating life-saving devices, underscoring Eighth Amendment concerns about executing medically fragile inmates.

This undated file photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Byron Black. The Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, indefinitely postponed the execution of death row inmate Byron Black. In a brief order issued on Thursday, the court wrote that Black's execution is stayed pending a further order by the court “because of the multiple issues caused by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.”
This undated booking photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Corrections shows Byron Black.
Image
Byron Lewis Black, right, listens to testimony during his murder trial alongside his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Ross Alderman, in Metro’s Circuit Court at the Davidson County Courthouse on March 9, 1989.

Overview

  • The U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Bill Lee denied last-minute appeals, allowing Byron Black’s execution to proceed at 10:43 a.m. on August 5 with his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator active.
  • The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed a trial judge’s July order to deactivate Black’s defibrillator, ruling the lower court lacked authority to modify the execution protocol.
  • Witnesses at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution reported that Black cried out in pain and appeared to struggle during the lethal injection.
  • Black’s attorneys had sought new hearings on his intellectual disability and medical vulnerability under Tennessee’s updated 2021 statute but were blocked by earlier rulings and the state Supreme Court.
  • His execution marks Tennessee’s second since resuming capital punishment in May after a five-year hiatus and the 28th nationwide this year.