Latest news with #Angela Clay
The Sun
5 days ago
- The Sun
Triple murderer, 69, with defibrillator implant executed with injection as he groaned ‘it hurts so bad' in 10 min ordeal
A TRIPLE murderer has become the first killer to be executed with a defibrillator implant in his chest. Byron Black, 69, groaned it was "hurting so bad" as he was given the lethal injection in Tennessee after a failed last-ditch bid to halt his execution. 6 6 6 Officials had refused to deactivate his implanted defibrillator despite fears it might continually try to restart his heart. Black's lawyer Kelley Henry had warned the execution could become a "grotesque spectacle" and he could still be in pain even if he looked unresponsive. Black died at 10.43am on Tuesday - about 10 minutes after he was given the injection. Asked for any last words, he replied, "No sir." But witnesses said he appeared to be in discomfort - sighing and breathing heavily and talking about being in pain. Black looked around the room as the execution started - lifting his head off the gurney multiple times, and could be heard sighing and breathing heavily. Throughout the execution, a spiritual adviser prayed and sang over Black - at one point touching his face. As he lay with his hands and chest restrained with an IV line in his arm, he said: "Oh, it's hurting so bad." The spiritual adviser responded: "I'm so sorry. Just listen to my voice." Black was jailed after he shot dead his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters, aged six and nine, in 1988. He killed the trio while he was on work release from serving time for shooting Clay's estranged husband. Linette Bell, whose sister and two nieces were killed, told local station WKRN-TV: "He didn't have mercy on them, so why should we have mercy on him?" She added: "His family is now going through the same thing we went through 37 years ago. "I can't say I'm sorry because we never got an apology." Black was executed after a back-and-forth over whether officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. It was a battery-powered device designed to deliver electric shocks to restore a regular heartbeat if needed. Black was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions. 6 6 6 His lawyers said that a doctor should put a device over the implant to ensure it was switched off. In July, a judge agreed it was necessary - but the state Supreme Court then said the judge lacked authority to order the defibrillator to be deactivated. Black's lawyer said the execution was shameful. Henry said: "Today, the state of Tennessee killed a gentle, kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in a violation of the laws of our country simply because they could." The lawyer added that they will review data kept by the heart device as part of an autopsy. Prison officials have not commented on claims that Black appeared conscious or his complaints of pain. It marked Tennessee's second execution since May after a pause for five years - first because of the pandemic and then because of missteps by state corrections officials. Twenty-eight men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in America - and nine other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death. What did Black's lawyers say about his defibrillator? BYRON Black had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator - a small, battery-powered electronic device that is surgically implanted in the chest. It served as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. Black's attorneys said a doctor can send it a deactivation command without surgery. The legal case also spurred a reminder that most medical professionals consider participation in executions a violation of health care ethics. In recent years, Black's legal team has unsuccessfully tried to get a new hearing about an intellectual disability they say he's exhibited since childhood. People with intellectual disabilities are constitutionally barred from execution. His attorneys said that if they had delayed a prior attempt to seek his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared under a 2021 state law. That is because the 2021 law denies a hearing to people on death row who have already filed a similar request and a court has ruled on it "on the merits". A judge denied Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk's attempt to get Black a new hearing. Funk focused on input from an expert for the state in 2004 who determined back then that Black didnt meet the criteria for what was then called "mental retardation. But she concluded that Black met the new laws criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Daily Mail
Death row inmate screams out in pain during execution after state refused to remove heart device
A Tennessee man cried out in pain as he was executed on Tuesday for the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her two young daughters. Byron Black, 69, was killed by lethal injection for the deaths of Angela Clay, 29, and her daughters, Latoya, nine, and Lakeisha, six, despite uncertainty over whether his implanted defibrillator would shock his heart when the chemicals took effect. He spent the morning participating in a church service inside his cell, and had his final meal at 4.45 am, comprising pizza with mushrooms and sausage, followed by doughnuts and butter pecan ice cream. As the pentobarbital flowed through his veins on Tuesday morning, he appeared to be in visible distress as he was strapped to a gurney and covered in a sheet with IV lines running to his body at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville, according to the Tennessean. Just two minutes after the curtain to the execution room swung open, Black could be heard sighing heavily and breathing heavily. He also lifted his head off the gurney multiple times before eventually telling his spiritual advisor: 'It's hurting so bad.' 'I'm so sorry. Just listen to my voice,' Rev. Monica Coakley responded before singing to comfort him. Black was then pronounced dead at 10.43, about 10 minutes after the execution started and he talked about being in pain. Black was sentenced to death in 1989 for the shooting deaths of Clay, his girlfriend, and her daughters. Prosecutors have said he shot them in a jealous rage after he learned that Clay was considering reconciling with her estranged husband, Bennie Clay, whom Black had shot the year before. He was on work release from a Nashville jail, where he had been serving two years for the shooting, at the time of the murders. Clay's sister said Black will now face a higher power. 'I thank God for making this happen,' Linette Bell, Angela Clay's sister, said in a statement read by a victim's advocate after the execution. 'His family is now going through the same thing we went through 37 years ago,' she continued. 'I can't say I´m sorry because we never got an apology. He never apologized and he never admitted it.' But Black's longtime attorney Kelly Henry claimed the state 'killed a gentle, kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in a violation of the laws of our country simply because they could.' She also argued 'no one in a position of power, certainly not the courts, was willing to stop them following a back-and-forth in court over whether officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD during the proceedings. Henry had argued in court that the defibrillator would likely shock Black repeatedly during the lethal injection process if it were not properly deactivated. Black's lawyers also unsuccessfully tried to get a new hearing about an intellectual disability they said Black has exhibited since childhood, with an IQ below 70. They stipulated in court documents that Black would be deemed ineligible for the death penalty if a new hearing was held, and in 2022, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk asked a judge to vacate his death sentence. But the courts ultimately denied the appeal - ruling that the state's current intellectual disability law does not apply to those who have had their competence adjudicated previously - and Black's mental capacity was first brought up before his 1989 trial. Black's attorneys then appeared to gain a small victory when the Davidson County Chancery Court ruled in favor of Black having his defibrillator disabled before the execution. Judges ruled that the inmate could be 'subject to the severe pain and suffering of having his heart repeatedly shocked back into rhythm during his execution,' NBC News reports. But Tennessee's Supreme Court overturned that decision Thursday, saying the other judge lacked authority to order the change. Still, the state justices left open the possibility that prosecutors and Black's attorneys work together to figure out a plan to deactivate the ICD. Yet State Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti vowed in a statement last week to move ahead with the execution, as he disputed that he would suffer severe pain. 'Our office will continue fighting to seek justice for the Clay family and to hold Black accountable for his horrific crimes,' he said. Both Gov. Bill Lee and the United States Supreme Court then declined to intervene. By the time of his death on Tuesday, Black was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions. Henry said Black's defense team will now carefully review autopsy results, EKG data from Black and information from the defibrillator to determine what exactly happened during the execution. The lethal injection protocol is still being challenged in court. She said she was especially concerned about his head movement and complaints of pain because the massive dose of pentobarbital used to kill inmates is supposed to rapidly leave them unconscious. 'The fact that he was able to raise his head several times and express pain tells you that the pentobarbital was not acting the way the state's experts claim it acts,' Henry said as she argued he was 'tortured.' She went on to tell how medical personnel had trouble finding his veins in both arms, leading to a puddle of blood on his right side, and claimed it took 10 minutes for the tubes to be attached, according to the Nashville Banner. Henry then held back tears while relaying what she had witnessed during the execution of Black, whom she has represented for 25 years. The lawyer said those who made the execution possible 'should feel shame,' and noted that even though Black did not have any public last words, he asked her to express his gratitude to his family, supporters and even the prison staff who had shown him kindness in his final days. 'Byron left this world with words of grace, mercy and love,' Kelly said. 'I wish I could share these sentiments, I do not. 'The State of Tennessee heartlessly and intentionally traumatized a second family today. A family that matters. A family that is devastated,' she continued. 'May God have mercy on their souls. I know that He has mercy for Byron.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Tennessee executes inmate by lethal injection without deactivating his implanted defibrillator
Tennessee executed an inmate Tuesday without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, despite uncertainty about whether the device would shock his heart when the lethal chemicals took effect. Byron Black was executed after a back-and-forth in court over whether officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. Black, 69, was in a wheelchair, had 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 instrument 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. The state disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black's defibrillator to shock him and said he wouldn't feel them regardless. Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6. Prosecutors said he 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 Clay's estranged husband. It was Tennessee's second execution since May, after a pause for five years, first because of Covid-19 and then because of missteps by state corrections officials. Twenty-eight men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the US, and eight other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death.
CNN
6 days ago
- CNN
Tennessee executes inmate by lethal injection without deactivating his implanted defibrillator
Tennessee executed an inmate Tuesday without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, despite uncertainty about whether the device would shock his heart when the lethal chemicals took effect. Byron Black was executed after a back-and-forth in court over whether officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. Black, 69, was in a wheelchair, had 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 instrument 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. The state disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black's defibrillator to shock him and said he wouldn't feel them regardless. Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6. Prosecutors said he 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 Clay's estranged husband. It was Tennessee's second execution since May, after a pause for five years, first because of Covid-19 and then because of missteps by state corrections officials. Twenty-eight men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the US, and eight other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death.
Sky News
6 days ago
- Sky News
Byron Black to be first man executed with working defibrillator fitted - despite claims he could suffer
A triple-killer is set to be the first man executed with a working defibrillator in his chest when he's put to death in Tennessee today. Byron Black's bid to delay the execution was denied on Monday, and he will now be killed by lethal injection. There is uncertainty over whether the device will shock his heart, potentially prolonging his death and causing suffering when the deadly cocktail takes effect. The 69-year-old is in a wheelchair and is said to have dementia, kidney failure, brain damage and congestive heart failure. His cardioverter-defibrillator is a battery-powered device that delivers electric shocks to restore a regular heartbeat if needed. Black's lawyers said a doctor should put a device over the implant to ensure it's switched off, and in July, a judge agreed it was necessary to avert the chance of unnecessary pain. But the state Supreme Court said last week the judge lacked authority to order the defibrillator to be deactivated. Lawyers representing Tennessee have argued that the lethal injection will not cause the device to shock Black and that he would not feel it even if it did. However, his lawyer, Kelley Henry, said the execution could become a "grotesque spectacle" and Black could still be in pain even if he looks unresponsive. Black shot dead his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters - aged six and nine - in a jealous rage in 1988. He committed the murders while on work release for shooting Clay's estranged husband. Linette Bell, whose sister and two nieces were killed, recently told local station WKRN-TV: "He didn't have mercy on them, so why should we have mercy on him?" Black's lawyers have also unsuccessfully tried in recent years to save him from execution by arguing he's intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty under US Supreme Court precedent. Twenty-seven men have been executed in the US so far this year - the highest since the 28 killed in 2015. However, nine others are scheduled before the end of 2025.
