NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Attorneys representing Tennessee death row prisoners submitted additional evidence Oct. 29 challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol, citing inadequate training, unsuccessful execution attempts and alleged medical failures that they argue expose condemned prisoners to unconstitutional suffering.
The filing includes the November 2025 deposition of Kenneth Nelsen, warden of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, where Tennessee carries out executions.
Nelsen testified that execution-team members previously practiced inserting intravenous lines but were instructed not to conduct that training under the state’s revised protocol, adopted in January 2025.
He attributed the change to then-Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, who resigned Oct. 3, 2026.
Nelsen also testified that he had not received specific training on responding to unsuccessful intravenous insertions during executions.
The deposition further established that the execution physician and intravenous team members were paid in cash on execution days.
The testimony supports an Oct. 22 motion seeking permission to supplement a lawsuit filed in March 2025 challenging Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures.
In September, the state moved to dismiss the litigation, arguing that the prisoners’ concerns about potential problems during executions were too speculative to support their claims.
The plaintiffs contend that subsequent executions have demonstrated that those risks are not hypothetical.
Their proposed supplemental complaint describes unsuccessful execution attempts involving Tony Carruthers in May and Christa Pike in September 2026.
According to the complaint, execution personnel attempted for approximately 30 minutes to establish a secondary intravenous line in Carruthers on May 21, puncturing his arm and hand six or seven times.
The execution physician subsequently attempted to establish intravenous access through Carruthers’ neck and chest, despite concerns raised by defense counsel about his qualifications.
Carruthers reportedly expressed pain during the procedures, and the execution was ultimately halted without lethal drugs being administered.
The plaintiffs argue that the unsuccessful attempt demonstrates deficiencies in training and emergency procedures under the state’s protocol.
The complaint also describes Pike’s Sept. 30 execution attempt, which attorneys characterized as “the most egregiously and torturously botched execution by lethal injection in American history.”
According to the filing, Pike experienced difficulties during intravenous access procedures before receiving lethal injection drugs.
Witnesses reported that she continued struggling to breathe after the drugs were administered, prompting execution personnel to administer a second dose of pentobarbital.
The complaint alleges that Pike continued making gasping and choking sounds while witnesses remained in an adjoining room.
An ambulance was requested, but emergency personnel were delayed by a communications breakdown between the prison and Nashville emergency services.
According to the filing, first responders were unable to enter the prison until approximately 35 minutes after the initial emergency call because personnel lacked a required verification code.
Pike was transported to a hospital in critical condition and remained unresponsive for several days before regaining consciousness Oct. 6.
Her attorneys subsequently reported that she experienced pneumonia, a blood clot, difficulty swallowing and walking, swollen hands and impaired movement in her arms.
The full extent of her injuries remained uncertain when the proposed supplemental complaint was prepared.
Following the unsuccessful execution attempt, Gov. Bill Lee suspended executions through the remainder of 2026.
The plaintiffs also cite alleged deficiencies during earlier executions, including the state’s failure to install an electrocardiograph printer before Oscar Smith’s May 22, 2025, execution.
According to the complaint, Tennessee Department of Correction General Counsel Jennifer Brenner acknowledged that the printer had not been installed before Smith’s execution.
The printer was subsequently installed before Byron Black’s August 2025 execution.
The complaint alleges that Black’s electrocardiogram continued recording cardiac electrical activity after the execution physician declared him dead.
Dr. Gail Van Norman, a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist retained by the plaintiffs, concluded that the available evidence indicated Black had not experienced irreversible cessation of cardiac function when his death was declared.
That conclusion is disputed medical evidence presented by the plaintiffs, not a judicial finding.
The prisoners’ attorneys argue that the incidents demonstrate systemic problems with execution-team training, medical oversight and procedures for responding to complications.
They contend that the alleged failures support their challenge under constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
Davidson County Chancellor Russell T. Perkins is scheduled to hear the motion to supplement the complaint Nov. 6.
The court has not determined whether Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol violates constitutional protections.
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