Latest news with #RussellPerkins
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
US court says man with defibrillator can be executed despite concerns
A court in the United States has ruled that the southern US state of Tennessee can move forward with the execution of a man with an implanted defibrillator, despite concerns that the device could result in a botched execution. The case before the Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday concerned Byron Black, currently on death row after his conviction in a 1988 triple murder. Black's execution has been delayed multiple times, but a date was set on August 5 for him to receive a lethal injection. However, in July, his defence team argued the execution could not proceed without first deactivating Black's defibrillator, for fear it would continuously shock his heart as he passed away, resulting in an unnecessarily painful and prolonged death. Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins previously ruled that Black's defibrillator would have to be removed prior to execution. But the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned that decision, arguing that removing the defibrillator in advance would amount to a 'stay of execution'. The state justices added that the lower court's order was invalid because it had exceeded its authority. Kelley Henry, one of Black's attorneys, said that she is looking at the opinion before making a decision about next steps. Lawyers for the state said on Wednesday that healthcare workers, many of whom view participation in the execution process as a violation of medical ethics, were not willing to facilitate the defibrillator's removal. The court did not address concerns over whether possible complications to the execution caused by the device could violate Black's constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. It also left open the possibility that Black could still win a reprieve against his execution. Botched executions have been a subject of debate for years in the US, one of the few Western countries that still uses capital punishment. Capital punishment carried out through methods such as lethal injection and electrocution can be frequently error-prone, sometimes resulting in painful, drawn-out deaths for prisoners. A 2022 report by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) found that seven out of 22 attempted executions in the US were 'visibly problematic' and included 'executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves'. According to Amnesty International, the US executed 24 people in 2023, the third-highest number of confirmed executions in the world after Iran and Saudi Arabia. The US also had the fifth-highest number of death sentences, after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. A 2024 Gallup poll found that 53 percent of people in the US still support the death penalty, while 43 percent disapprove. Those figures, however, represent some of the lowest levels of support on record, with favour dropping sharply over the last several decades.
The Independent
7 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Tennessee death row inmate can be executed without deactivating implanted defibrillator, court rules
A Tennessee death row inmate can be executed without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, the state's high court ruled on Thursday. The ruling overturns a lower court's order and paves the way for Byron Black to be executed on Tuesday morning, as scheduled. The Tennessee Supreme Court found that requiring that the device be deactivated would effectively interfere with the execution, which the lower court does not have the power to do. At issue was how Black's heart-regulating device will perform when the state attempts to execute him with a lethal injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital. Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins previously found that the implanted cardioverter-defibrillator is likely to continuously shock Black's heart, causing unnecessary pain and prolonging the execution. He ordered the state to deactivate the device shortly before the execution. The order kept in mind the possibility that Black could win a last-minute reprieve. Deactivating it too far in advance might mean Black could die just before a ruling that would have saved him. Lawyers for the Tennessee Attorney General's office at first said they would need to transport Black to Nashville General Hospital for the deactivation because the doctors there were not willing to come to the execution chamber. On Wednesday, the state changed course, admitting that the hospital was unwilling to take part in the procedure, regardless of location. Most medical professionals consider any participation in executions to be a violation of medical ethics.
The Independent
22-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Tennessee judge gives state leeway on deactivating inmate's heart-regulating device before execution
A Tennessee judge ruled on Tuesday that the state can deactivate a death-row inmate's implanted heart-regulating device at a hospital on the morning of his execution, rather than bringing a doctor or technician into the execution chamber. The ruling comes after Deputy Attorney General Cody Brandon told the judge they could not comply with an earlier order requiring Byron Black 's implanted cardioverter-defibrillator to be turned off just prior to the injection of a lethal dose of pentobarbital on Aug. 5. In the Friday order, Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins agreed with Black's attorneys that not deactivating the device could cause Black to suffer needlessly as it continuously shocks him in an attempt to restore his heart's normal rhythm during the execution. At a Tuesday hearing on the issue, Brandon said Black's physicians at Nashville General Hospital are unwilling to come to the execution chamber. That means the Friday chancellor's order is, in effect, an order to stay the execution, which only the Tennessee Supreme Court has the power to do, he argued. Brandon asked the judge to either overturn his Friday order or allow the Tennessee Department of Correction to take Black to the hospital for the deactivation on Aug. 4. Kelley Henry, who represents Black, argued that the state should not be allowed to deactivate the device prematurely because doing so could result in Black's death while he still has the possibility of a last-minute reprieve. ' On August 4, we will still be in other courts seeking a stay of execution,' Henry said. She also said state officials had not really tried to find a doctor willing to come to the prison. She first brought the issue up with the Tennessee Department of Correction in early June, but it was not until the Friday order that they began to look into it, and then they only contacted Nashville General Hospital. 'It's like when you tell a teenager to clean up their room, and they pick up one sock,' she said. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small, battery-powered electronic instrument, surgically implanted in the chest, that serves as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. Perkins noted in court on Tuesday that during a two-day hearing last week on the issue, a doctor testifying for Black said that deactivating the device is quick and doesn't require surgery, only a handheld machine. Meanwhile, the state did not present any testimony at the time that deactivation would be an administrative or logistical burden. In modifying his own order on Tuesday, Perkins wrote that it is obvious the state has 'taken only minimal steps' to comply with his Friday order. However, Perkins said he also wants to ensure that his ruling can't be construed as an attempt to interfere with the execution. 'I've lost sleep over this because I want to do the right thing,' Perkins said at the hearing. 'I want to honor the memories of these victims' while also making sure the execution is properly carried out. 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. 'Had she not been killed, Lakeisha would be in her 40s today,' Brandon told the judge on Tuesday. ' Justice has waited 37 years. It should not wait any longer.' 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.
CBS News
21-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Tennessee inmate's heart device must be turned off before execution to avoid shock risk, judge rules
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. This latest ruling comes after extensive back-and-forth between Tennessee officials and Black's legal team, who have argued in a number of court filings that their client's cognitive disabilities mean he isn't competent for execution. One of them was a request sent to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee for Black's clemency, asking the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison. "Mr. Black, who lives with an intellectual disability, has been on death row for 25 years," the letter read. "From infancy, he suffered from the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure, resulting in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. As a toddler, he was exposed to toxic lead, compounding his lifelong cognitive and developmental impairments." Now 69 and wheelchair-bound, Black suffers from dementia, multiple organ failures, including heart failure, diabetes and prostate cancer, according to his attorneys, who also noted in their clemency request that the inmate has an implanted device to regulate his heart. 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. 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. If Black's attorneys could prove their client's intellectual disability, executing him would violate Tennessee's Constitution. But 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. The clemency request also said Black would have been spared the execution under a 2021 state law if he had delayed filing his intellectual disability claim. "If this execution is allowed to move forward, Mr. Black will be the first intellectually disabled person executed by Tennessee in the modern era of the death penalty," his attorneys wrote in that filing. 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.
Al Arabiya
19-07-2025
- Al Arabiya
Judge Orders Tennessee To Turn Off Inmate's Heart-Regulating Implanted Device At Execution
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – 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. 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 US 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.
