NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday granted death row inmate Tony Carruthers a one-year reprieve after a failed attempt to establish the IV lines required under the state’s lethal injection protocol at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Following prison officials halting the execution because of the botched medical procedure, a press release issued by Lee’s office stated that a primary IV line was established but officials could not secure a backup vein as required under execution procedures. The Tennessee Department of Correction stated that the procedure was ultimately unsuccessful, even after attempts to insert a central line, leading officials to call off the execution.
“I am granting Tony Von Carruthers a temporary reprieve from execution for one year,” Lee stated. The one-year reprieve will mark the fourth execution-related controversy in Tennessee in less than a year following a three-year pause ordered by Lee in 2022 to review the state’s lethal injection process.
Tony Carruthers was convicted in 1994 in a triple kidnapping and murder case in Memphis and has spent more than three decades on Tennessee’s death row. A lack of physical evidence linking Carruthers to the crimes, along with the use of paid informant testimony and questions surrounding his mental competency during trial proceedings, has fueled significant opposition to the execution.
Carruthers “groaned in pain,” said Maria DiLiberato, an attorney with the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project representing the incarcerated man, as she described how medical personnel spent more than an hour attempting to locate a suitable vein.
DiLiberato went on to criticize the state and prison officials for proceeding with the execution despite ongoing disputes surrounding DNA testing and evidence in the case, stating, “today, that injustice became outright barbaric after Mr. Carruthers was subject to a botched execution attempt.”
In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the “wrongful execution” of Carruthers should be called off because “the evidence against him that was presented at trial came from informants who have since recanted their statements or been discredited.”
Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, along with several anti-death penalty advocates, also condemned the failed execution attempt, arguing that it reflected broader flaws within Tennessee’s capital punishment system.
Rector, addressing the legality of the execution, said, “Not only did our state force Mr. Carruthers to represent himself at his own trial, convict him based on the testimony of a paid informant with no physical evidence, and deny him testing of DNA evidence that could have exonerated him, but now our state has tortured him too.” According to the Tennessee Lookout, after conflicts with several court-appointed attorneys, Carruthers represented himself at trial.
Kelley Henry, an attorney representing a group of Tennessee death row prisoners, stated that “there is no principled reason to allow the state to resume executions before the court has an opportunity to hear all the evidence.” Henry also argued that the state should not resume executions while legal questions remain regarding the sourcing and handling of lethal injection drugs and the competency of execution personnel.
According to CNN reporting from The Associated Press, attorneys have also raised critical concerns about Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures by questioning whether the Tennessee Department of Correction intended to use expired execution drugs. Instead of directly answering defense attorneys who repeatedly questioned whether the drugs met safety and expiration standards, state and prison officials cited confidentiality protections and declined to answer. Those concerns have intensified following officials’ admission that they failed to properly test lethal injection drugs for purity and potency.
The failed execution also renewed criticism of Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures, with ACLU advocates and community groups going to Lee’s office Monday but being met with a statement that the execution would proceed as planned.
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