Despite fears that the medical device could attempt to restart his heart, prolonging his death, the state of Tennessee, a part of the southern United States, executed a man who had an implanted defibrillator.
Byron Black, a 69-year-old man who was found guilty of a triple homicide in 1988, was given a lethal injection on Tuesday by state officials.
The defibrillator would continue to try to shock his heart as he died, according to his lawyers’ failure to put a last-ditch effort on Monday to stop the execution in his place.
According to Black’s attorneys, executing him without first disabling the defibrillator would violate the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment. The shocks would be severe enough for him to require his immediate medical attention.
However, the state’s governor, Republican Bill Lee, who had the authority to grant clemency, as did the US Supreme Court, who also had the authority to carry out the execution.
At 10:43 a.m. local time (15:43 GMT), prison officials confirmed Black’s death.
Witnesses reported that Black was seen by the Associated Press breathing heavily and staring around the room as the execution began. He reportedly told a spiritual advisor that he was struggling shortly afterward.
a rise in the death penalty
Black’s death is the second one in Tennessee since May and the 28th court-ordered execution in the US this year.
Lethal injections in the state had been postponed for five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, first in response to reports that lethal injections had failed to pass the necessary testing to ensure their safety.
In response to the concerns, the state launched an independent investigation to look into the procedures for obtaining and administering the injections.
In 2025, the number of executions in the entire country is expected to be the highest since at least 2015, when 28 people were executed overall.
In addition to the death penalty, US President Donald Trump has indicated his support for expanding it during his second term and that at least eight other people are scheduled to pass away this year as part of court-mandated executions.
Trump lifted a moratorium on the federal death penalty that was put in place under former US President Joe Biden on January 20 and signed an executive order on January 20th.
According to the order, his administration also stated that it would pursue the punishment “for all crimes of a severity that demand its use.”
Trump cited as appropriate examples of the death penalty the murder of law enforcement officials and the crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
According to Trump, “Capital punishment is a crucial tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens.”
In addition, the US attorney general would make sure that each state had “a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injections” if they so desired.
In 27 states and on the federal level, death penalty is permitted. The US is the only developed nation in the West to carry out the death penalty.
Inside Byron Black’s case
The death penalty is a practice that is opposed by opponents for a long time and risks causing irreversible harm to those who are later found innocent.
Lawyers in Black’s case cited the 69-year-old’s plethora of health conditions as justifications for rejecting his execution.
He reportedly had dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, and heart damage, which required the use of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
Critics claimed that Black should not have been eligible for the death penalty for his unique intellectual disabilities.
Angela Clay and her two daughters, Latoya and Lakeisha Clay, both aged nine and six, were killed in 1988 by Black’s girlfriend on three counts of first-degree murder, according to a statement released by the prosecution.
After he shot and wounded Clay’s estranged husband, Bennie Clay, in 1986, while Black was a participant in a work-release program, the murders occurred.
Black’s defense team has been attempting to postpone and halt his execution for years. Black’s execution was initially scheduled for 2022 despite the fact that he has spent more than three decades on death row.
However, Black’s attorneys filed a request to have his sentence reviewed and his intellectual disabilities in 2021. Then, in 2022, Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk filed a petition to have Black removed from death row, using a similar justification.
When Tennessee put all of its executions on hold to allow for its investigation into lethal injection practices, Black’s execution was postponed that year.
However, Black’s petition to be put on death row ultimately failed. However, Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins ruled in July that the defendant’s defibrillator must be removed in order for the execution to take place, avoiding the possibility of “irreparable harm.”
Given the Hippocratic oath, the state of Tennessee argued that it was challenging to locate a medical professional who would consent to remove or deactivate the defibrillator in order to protect the patient. Additionally, it was claimed that Black would not respond to the lethal injection’s pentobarbital.
Tennessee’s Supreme Court ultimately agreed with the state, holding that Perkins’s decision constituted a “stay of execution.” Meanwhile, petitions to hear the case have been turned down by the US Supreme Court.
