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last mo.

Tennessee to Execute Byron Black Without Deactivating Implanted Defibrillator

The state Supreme Court cleared the path for Tuesday’s execution despite medical ethics objections.

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.
Bennie Clay sits on March 4, 2025, with a photo of his wife, Angela Clay, and their daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6, who were killed in 1988 by Byron Lewis Black.
Nashville General Hospital, pictured on November 19, 2019, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Kelley Henry, defense attorney for Pervis Payne, participates in a hearing on his intellectual disability claim at Shelby County Criminal Court on July 16, 2021.

Overview

  • Tennessee has scheduled Byron Black’s execution for August 5 without deactivating his implanted cardioverter-defibrillator.
  • A Davidson County chancery court ordered the device turned off before the execution, but the Tennessee Supreme Court overruled that order on July 30.
  • Nashville General Hospital confirmed it will not assist with device deactivation, citing medical ethics prohibitions and lack of official authorization.
  • Black’s attorneys have filed last-minute appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and submitted a clemency petition to the governor, yet no new stays have been granted.
  • The case tests the limits of Eighth Amendment protections and medical ethics in carrying out executions of medically vulnerable inmates.