MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The American Civil Liberties Union, along with Quarles & Brady LLP, filed a lawsuit on April 28, 2026, challenging the state’s denial of forensic testing in the case of death row prisoner Tony Carruthers, who is scheduled to be executed on May 21, raising urgent concerns about the risk of wrongful execution, according to an ACLU press release.
According to NBC News, Carruthers and a co-defendant were convicted of three counts of kidnapping and first-degree murder in a 1994 case and were sentenced to death. After more than 30 years on death row, Carruthers continues to maintain his innocence, and his execution is scheduled for next month.
Forensic evidence in this case includes six fingerprints and DNA samples recovered from the crime scene that do not match Carruthers, according to the ACLU.
One individual implicated in the murders later stated that Carruthers was not involved and identified an alternative suspect, according to the press release. In September 2021, Carruthers filed a motion to compare the fingerprint evidence to the alternative suspect.
The Tennessee Supreme Court denied the motion on April 16, according to the press release.
“Tony’s execution would be a gross miscarriage of justice that is entirely avoidable with basic forensic testing,” said Maria DeLiberato, senior counsel at the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project.
The ACLU argues that forensic testing is critical in determining whether the correct individual was convicted.
“The state holds DNA and fingerprint evidence that could help determine who committed this crime, but instead of testing it, it is prioritizing finality over the truth,” said DeLiberato in the statement.
As stated in the lawsuit, it is necessary for the state to ensure it has the right person before carrying out Carruthers’ execution; therefore, it is critical that fingerprint and DNA evidence be tested to verify this.
In addition to the unidentified fingerprint evidence, there is unknown male DNA that is not linked to Carruthers or his co-defendant. The ACLU has filed a motion for DNA testing in the Tennessee Supreme Court, asking the state to compare the DNA to the alternative suspect.
This motion is still pending, and if the Tennessee Supreme Court denies this critical testing, the lawsuit will be amended to include DNA claims, according to the press release.
The complaint also challenges the court’s refusal to consider new evidence that prosecutors allegedly failed to disclose that a key witness was a paid confidential informant.
As stated in the lawsuit, witness testimony is widely known to be one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions, and it forms the basis of Carruthers’ indictment.
Additionally, the press release states that Carruthers was forced to represent himself at trial, leading to key aspects of the prosecution’s case going unchallenged. Jurors were not aware that the witness was a paid informant. They were also not informed that Carruthers’ DNA and fingerprints were not found at the scene or that there is an alternative suspect who had not been tested against the available evidence.
The state has not allowed the consideration of an alternative suspect or the comparison of forensic evidence and has concealed the disclosure of the witness’s status as a paid informant for decades.
Carruthers’ conviction was based largely on unreliable testimony, with no physical evidence linking him to the crime, as he faces execution in less than a month.
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