Judge orders Tennessee to turn off inmate's heart-regulating implanted device at execution

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials must deactivate a death-row inmate 's implanted heart-regulating device to avert the risk that it might try to shock him during his lethal injection, a judge ruled Friday.

The order by Nashville Chancellor Russell Perkins comes ahead of the Aug. 5 execution of Byron Black. Black's attorneys have said that the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator could shock him in an attempt to restore his heart's normal rhythm after the single dose of pentobarbital, with the potential for multiple rounds of shocks and extreme pain and suffering.

The order requires the state to deactivate the device moments before administering the lethal injection, including having medical or certified technician professionals, plus equipment, on hand. The lower-court judge said the order will not serve to delay the execution, something he said he does not have the authority to do. He also said it doesn't add an undue administrative or logistical burden for the state.

Black’s attorneys say the only surefire way to shut off the device is for a doctor to place a programming device over the implant site, sending it a deactivation command. It is unclear how quickly the state could find a medical professional willing to do the deactivation. Additionally, the state is almost certain to file a quick appeal.

The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small, battery-powered electronic instrument that is surgically implanted in someone's chest, usually near the left collarbone. Black's was inserted in May 2024. It serves as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. At a two-day hearing this week, experts offered clashing testimony on how it would act during the execution and what Black could feel if he is shocked.

Attorneys for the state deemed it highly unlikely that the pentobarbital would trigger the device's defibrillating function, and if it did, they say he would be unconscious and unaware, and unable to perceive pain. The state also said the lower-court judge lacked authority to order the device disabled.

The only surefire way to shut off the device is for a doctor to place a programming device over the implant site, sending it a deactivation command. It is unclear how quickly the state could find a medical professional willing to do the deactivation.

Black's attorneys say the state is relying on studies that confuse unawareness with unresponsiveness. The inmate's team says research shows pentobarbital renders people unresponsive and causes them to experience amnesia after they undergo an operation, but it doesn’t make them unaware or unable to feel pain..

Kelley Henry, an attorney for Black, said she is relieved by the ruling.

“It’s horrifying to think about this frail old man being shocked over and over as the device attempts to restore his heart’s rhythm even as the State works to kill him,” Henry said in a statement. “Today’s ruling averts that torturous outcome.”

A Tennessee attorney general's office spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday evening. Its previous filings say Black is trying to further delay justice for brutal murders.

Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. Prosecutors said Black was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting and wounding Clay’s estranged husband.

Black has already seen three execution dates come and go, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and a pause on executions from Gov. Bill Lee after the Department of Correction was found to not be testing the execution drugs for potency and purity as required. Black's execution would be the second one under a pentobarbital protocol released in December.

Black is intellectually disabled, attorneys say

Black’s attorneys have previously tried and failed to show that he should not be executed because he is intellectually disabled, and that would violate the state’s Constitution.

The state Supreme Court recently declined to order a hearing over whether he is incompetent to be executed.

A U.S. Supreme Court effort remains pending.

Black's legal team has filed a request for the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison. The letter asking for clemency says Black suffered from prenatal alcohol exposure and exposure to toxic lead as a toddler, compounding lifelong cognitive and developmental impairments.

The 69-year-old is now in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, the clemency letter says.

Additionally, the clemency request says if he had delayed filing his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared under a 2021 state law.

Black's motion related to his heart device came within a general challenge he and other death row inmates filed against the state’s new execution protocol. The trial isn't until 2026.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff, July 19, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Comments

William Thompson Faces Execution in Florida Amid Dementia, Terminal Illness Concerns

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an execution warrant for 74-year-old prisoner William “Bill” Thompson less than 24 hours after he was released from the hospital to the hospice wing of the prison. After his attorneys raised serious concerns about his mental competency and deteriorating physical health, Gov. DeSantis agreed to temporarily stay the execution so Mr. Thompson’s competency can be evaluated on October 1. If he is found competent, his execution remains scheduled for October 13.

Texas executes Ker’Sean Ramey

Texas executes man for a triple killing, days after other man convicted in case was put to death A man was executed Wednesday evening in Texas for a triple killing committed during an attempted robbery at a rural home, 1 week after the other man convicted in the case was put to death. Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. CDT following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was the 6th person executed this year in Texas, with 3 more lethal injections scheduled in the state over the next 2 months.

Florida | DeSantis sets execution of man who killed Indian River deputy, temporarily pauses another execution

William Reaves is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Oct. 20th. It's the 18th death warrant Gov. DeSantis has signed this year. Reaves shot Deputy Sheriff Richard Raczkowski in September 23, 1986. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his 18th death warrant of the year Friday. William Reaves, convicted of the 1986 killing of an Indian River County Sheriff's deputy, is set to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke on Oct. 20.

Texas House chairman wants child rapists eligible for death penalty

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Under current Supreme Court precedent, states cannot execute someone for raping a child if the victim survives. That’s not stopping State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney. “We’re going to have a debate in this building behind me about the death penalty being on the table for any Texan who rapes a child,” Leach, the chair of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, said. Leach made the comments while hosting a news conference supporting his client, abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire.

Israel | Ben Gvir discusses death penalty for Neveh Tzuf terrorist hours before Yom Kippur

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the possibility of applying the death penalty to the Neveh Tzuf terrorist during a security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two hours before the start of Yom Kippur on Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the possibility of applying the death penalty to the terrorist responsible for the attack in Neveh Tzuf during a security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu had reportedly convened the meeting in response to the security situation in the West Bank following the Sunday terror attack.

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed." SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Taylor Parker becomes 7th woman on death row in Texas

Taylor Parker is set to become the 7th woman on death row in Texas, following her sentencing Wednesday in Bowie County for the capital murder of Reagan Hancock and the kidnapping her unborn baby, Braxlynn Sage. The baby did not survive. The last woman to be handed a death sentence in the state was Kimberly Cargill in June 2012 for the slaying of her developmentally disabled babysitter in Smith County, who was set to testify against her in a custody battle. None of the women currently on death row in Texas are scheduled for execution. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 6 women have been executed in Texas since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, more than any other state, according to Death Penalty Information Center. The last woman to be executed in the U.S. was Lisa Montgomery in January 2021. It was the first execution of a female inmate carried out by the federal government since 1953, and her case is chillingly reminiscent of Parker’s. She wa...

Tennessee | Christa Pike Requests Clemency Ahead of September 30 Execution Date; Experts’ Amicus Brief Points to ‘Substantial Risk’ of Re-traumatization

Lawyers for Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, filed a 226-page clemency petition with Governor Bill Lee, asking him to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole ahead of her September 30 execution date. Ms. Pike’s clemency petition outlines the case her team has built over decades of appeals: her actions at 18 years old cannot be separated from a childhood marked by repeated rape, sexual abuse, and neglect that went unaddressed by the adults and state systems meant to protect her. Once incarcerated, Ms. Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Alabama executes Jeffery Lee

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBMA) — Alabama has executed Jeffery Lee, nearly three decades after he was convicted in the 1998 killings of two people during a pawnshop robbery in rural Dallas County. Lee, 49, was put to death by lethal injection Thursday evening at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. His execution came three months after a federal judge blocked Alabama's plans to execute him using nitrogen gas. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Central Time, according to the office of Governor Kay Ivey.

Texas set to execute second man convicted in 2005 South Texas triple murder

Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey is scheduled to die Wednesday, one week after the state executed his co-defendant for the same killings. Texas is scheduled to execute a man on Wednesday for the 2005 shooting deaths of three people during a botched robbery in a small South Texas town, just one week after the state put his co-defendant to death for the same crime. Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey, 41, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog