Murderer's disturbing final words as he suffered agonizing execution for killing girlfriend and her children
Byron Black died at 10:43am Tuesday, roughly 10 minutes after the lethal injection started.
'It's hurting so bad,' Black told a spiritual advisor at 10:33am as his execution began. He reportedly did not deliver a formal last statement.
Black, 69, looked around the room and could be heard sighing and breathing heavily, witnesses to his execution allege.
He was executed after a back-and-forth in court over whether officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD.
Black was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, his attorneys have said.
The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it's unaware of any other cases in which an inmate was making similar claims to Black's about ICDs or pacemakers. Black's attorneys said they haven´t found a comparable case, either.
In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Black's attorneys that officials must have the device deactivated to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution.
But the state Supreme Court intervened Thursday to overturn that decision, saying the other judge lacked authority to order the change.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
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