NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Attorneys for death row prisoner Darrel Hines have renewed their request for a reprieve from Gov. Bill Lee, arguing that the Tennessee Department of Correction’s refusal to clarify whether the physician who failed to carry out a previous execution will oversee Hines’ scheduled execution raises serious concerns about whether the procedure can be conducted humanely.
In another letter to Lee, Hines’ attorneys requested a reprieve in light of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s refusal to clarify whether Dr. Mark Fowler, the same physician who failed to execute Tony Carruthers on May 21, will be used for Hines’ execution on Aug. 13.
According to a press release, Dr. Fowler admitted he had not inserted a central intravenous line in more than 10 years. Nevertheless, he was scheduled to conduct the procedure during Carruthers’ execution, which had to be halted after Dr. Fowler tried unsuccessfully to insert the line for more than an hour.
In their letter to Lee, Hines’ attorneys pointed out that Tennessee’s 2025 Lethal Injection Protocol explicitly requires a physician to administer a central line, implying that the selected physician must be capable of carrying out that duty.
The letter emphasized that on July 7, TDOC refused to state whether Dr. Fowler would be used for Hines’ scheduled execution in response to a formal request from Hines’ attorneys. As stated in the press release, TDOC argued that “all information about its execution personnel is protected by secrecy laws.”
According to the letter, “There has not yet been a meaningful, comprehensive, and public review of what led to the repeated failures to perform the intravenous catheterization of Mr. Caruthers.”
Due to a series of strokes in early 2026, Hines was left unable to “move his left arm, hand, or leg, or see out of his left eye.” As his attorneys wrote to Lee on June 22, “He cannot move without assistance. He has major neurological and cognitive impairments. He is in constant pain.”
In the initial June 22 letter, Hines’ attorneys first requested the reprieve. “On the heels of the botched execution attempt of Tony Carruthers […] Mr. Hines’s medically fragile condition creates an intolerable risk that his execution will be yet another gruesome spectacle,” the attorneys wrote.
That letter also highlighted prior issues with TDOC executions, “including failures to perform necessary testing of execution chemicals and other problems cited in an independent report commissioned by Governor Lee.”
The Carruthers execution attempt has raised concerns about TDOC’s execution procedures, particularly “its related policies and practices regarding selection and retention of execution personnel,” and its subsequent unwillingness to openly evaluate its failures, according to the press release.
Nine state senators wrote to Lee on June 25 requesting a pause in executions pending an independent review of the Carruthers execution. On July 2, state Rep. Jody Barrett requested information from TDOC regarding its own review and planned reforms.
In their most recent letter, Hines’ attorneys reminded Lee of his administration’s stated commitment to ensuring Tennessee executions are conducted humanely.
“TDOC is an executive branch agency such that, if Dr. Fowler again serves as execution physician, he will be doing so as a member of your administration,” they wrote. “Dr. Fowler’s continued participation in executions runs counter to that commitment, and TDOC’s refusal to say whether it will continue to use his services for executions calls into question the integrity of the execution process.”
As stated in the press release, Hines’ request for information from TDOC regarding whether Dr. Fowler will be used in his execution will be filed along with another case challenging the constitutionality of Tennessee’s 2025 Lethal Injection Protocol. Hines is one of nine plaintiffs who have faced similar refusals from TDOC in the suit, which remains pending in Davidson County Chancery Court.
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