Overview

• The high court ruled that deactivating Black’s implanted cardioverter-defibrillator exceeds the lower court’s authority and is not required for his August 5 execution
• Nashville General Hospital confirmed it never agreed to disable the implant or take part in any execution-related procedure
• Black, 69, was sentenced for the 1988 murders of his girlfriend and her two daughters and his attorneys warn the device could repeatedly shock him during lethal injection
• Defense lawyers have filed emergency stays in state and federal courts and submitted a clemency petition to Gov. Bill Lee as execution preparations advance
• The dispute underscores clashes over judicial power, Eighth Amendment protections and medical ethics in executing elderly or medically vulnerable inmates