Death Row Inmate Executed Despite Concerns Over Heart Device Byron Black, a 69-year-old inmate, was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, despite warnings that his active implantable cardioverter defibrillator could cause him pain during the execution.
Witnesses reported that Black cried out, “It’s hurting so bad,” during the procedure, which was carried out at 10:43 a.m. local time.
Black had been convicted of the 1988 murders of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two young daughters.
He had no last words.
For weeks, Black’s attorneys had fought to have his defibrillator deactivated, arguing that it could override the effects of the lethal injection drugs and trigger repeated, painful shocks as he died.
While a lower court initially agreed to shut off the device, Tennessee’s Supreme Court ultimately overturned the decision, ruling that the judge lacked authority to intervene.
Black’s legal team had also sought clemency, citing his diagnoses of intellectual disability, heart failure, kidney failure, and progressive dementia.
He was wheelchair-bound at the time of his death and had spent over three decades on death row.
After the execution, Black’s attorneys announced plans to request a full autopsy and access to the defibrillator’s internal data to determine whether it discharged during the procedure.
If confirmed, this could be the first documented instance of a U.S. execution proceeding with an active implantable defibrillator still in place.