By Vanguard Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee court has ruled that death row prisoner Darrell Hines is entitled to learn whether the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) intends to use the same physician who participated in the state’s failed execution attempt of Tony Carruthers in May during Hines’ scheduled Aug. 13 execution. The court, however, stayed its order while a higher court considers the issue.
Following a hearing Thursday, Davidson County Chancery Court granted Hines’ motion to compel TDOC to disclose whether it plans to use Dr. Mark Fowler, the physician involved in Carruthers’ May 21 execution attempt, according to a statement released Friday by Hines’ legal team.
The motion argued that Fowler’s inability to establish intravenous access during Carruthers’ execution attempt created a substantial risk that Hines could suffer a similar outcome if the same physician is assigned to his execution. According to the filing, Fowler spent more than an hour unsuccessfully attempting to establish IV access before Carruthers’ execution was halted.
TDOC opposed the request, arguing that Tennessee’s execution secrecy law permits it to withhold the identity of execution personnel. Hines’ attorneys responded that TDOC had already publicly disclosed Fowler’s identity and therefore could not refuse to answer whether he would again participate in an execution.
During the hearing, Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled from the bench that Hines had demonstrated it was likely TDOC intended to continue using Fowler and that the department had waived any protection over his identity. The court therefore granted the motion to compel disclosure.
“We are pleased the court has recognized that TDOC has no legal basis to refuse to provide the basic and essential information of whether it plans to continue using a doctor whose lack of required qualifications and skills already resulted in one botched execution,” said Kit Thomas, an attorney for Hines. “It’s unconscionable that TDOC continues to withhold this information.”
Although Perkins ordered TDOC to disclose the information, he stayed the department’s obligation to respond until an appellate court has an opportunity to review the matter.
The dispute centers on Tennessee’s 2025 lethal injection protocol, which requires the execution physician to be capable of inserting a central line if necessary. According to the legal filings cited in the release, Fowler acknowledged during a sworn deposition that he had not performed a central intravenous line procedure since 2013 and no longer held hospital privileges to do so.
The release also cites court filings stating, “Dr. Fowler did not even know that the 2025 protocol required him to be able to set a central line—until that requirement was pointed out to him, not by [TDOC], but by [Mr. Hines’s attorneys].” The filings further state that Fowler was unable to establish a central line during Carruthers’ execution attempt.
Questions surrounding Tennessee’s execution procedures have continued to grow since Carruthers’ failed execution attempt. According to the release, TDOC has declined to provide a detailed public explanation of what occurred during the halted execution.
The release notes that on June 25, nine Republican state senators sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee requesting a pause in executions until an independent review could determine what went wrong during Carruthers’ execution attempt.
It also states that on July 2, state Rep. Jody Barrett, R-District 69, sent a letter to TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada seeking detailed information regarding the department’s review of the failed execution and any procedural changes being implemented to prevent similar problems in the future.
According to the release, Tennessee faith leaders also held a news conference July 16 expressing concern over Lee’s refusal to pause executions while the state investigates how its execution protocol failed during Carruthers’ execution attempt.
Separately, Hines’ attorneys renewed their request on July 8 for Lee to grant a reprieve while Tennessee courts consider challenges to the constitutionality of the state’s 2025 lethal injection protocol.
In that request, Hines’ attorneys asked the governor to delay the execution “until the Tennessee courts fully consider the constitutionality of the 2025 Lethal Injection Protocol, including its related policies and practices regarding selection and retention of execution personnel.” They also cited Hines’ severely debilitated medical condition following a series of strokes earlier this year.
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