Tennessee man noted intense pain during lethal injection without
deactivating defibrillator
[August 06, 2025]
By JONATHAN MATTISE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A man convicted of killing his girlfriend and
her two young daughters in the 1980s said he was “hurting so bad” while
he was given a lethal injection Tuesday in Tennessee, where authorities
had refused to deactivate his implanted defibrillator despite claims it
might cause unnecessary, painful shocks as the drugs were administered.
Black's attorney said they will review data kept by the device as part
of an autopsy.
Black died at 10:43 a.m., prison officials said. It was about 10 minutes
after the execution started and Black talked about being in pain.
Asked for any last words, he replied, “No sir.”
Black looked around the room as the execution started, lifting his head
off the gurney multiple times, and could be heard sighing and breathing
heavily. All seven media witnesses to the execution agreed he appeared
to be in discomfort. Throughout the execution, a spiritual adviser
prayed and sang over Black, at one point touching his face.
“Oh, it's hurting so bad," Black said, as he lay with his hands and
chest restrained to the gurney, a sheet covering up past his lower half,
and an IV line in his arm.
“I'm so sorry. Just listen to my voice,” the adviser responded.
Black was executed after a back-and-forth in court over whether
officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator,
or ICD. Black, 69, was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain
damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions,
his attorneys have said.
The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it’s unaware of any
other cases with similar claims to Black’s about ICDs or pacemakers.
Black’s attorneys said they haven’t found a comparable case, either.
Black killed his girlfriend and her 2 daughters
Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela
Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6.
Prosecutors said he was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at
their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time
for shooting Clay’s estranged husband.
Clay's sister said Black will now face a higher power.
“His family is now going through the same thing we went through 37 years
ago. I can't say I’m sorry because we never got an apology," Linette
Bell, Angela Clay's sister, said in a statement read by a victim's
advocate after the execution.
Black's lawyer said the execution was shameful.
“Today, the state of Tennessee killed a gentle, kind, fragile,
intellectually disabled man in a violation of the laws of our country
simply because they could," attorney Kelley Henry said.
The legal fight over Black's defibrillator
In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Black’s attorneys that
officials must have the defibrillator deactivated to avert the risk that
it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. But
Tennessee's Supreme Court overturned that decision Thursday, saying the
other judge lacked authority to order the change.
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Relatives of victims of convicted murderer Byron Black are escorted
from the Administration Building at Riverbend Maximum Security
Institution after the execution of Black, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in
Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
The state disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black’s
defibrillator to shock him and said he wouldn’t feel them
regardless.
Henry said Black's defense team will carefully review autopsy
results, EKG data from Black and information from the defibrillator
to determine what exactly happened during the execution. The lethal
injection protocol is still being challenged in court.
She said she was especially concerned about his head movement and
complaints of pain because the massive dose of pentobarbital used to
kill inmates is supposed to rapidly leave them unconscious.
“The fact that he was able to raise his head several times and
express pain tells you that the pentobarbital was not acting the way
the state's experts claim it acts,” Henry said.
Prison officials did not comment on witnesses and Black’s attorney
saying he appeared conscious or his complaints of pain.
It was Tennessee’s second execution since May, after a pause for
five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps
by state corrections officials.
Twenty-eight men have died by court-ordered execution so far this
year in the U.S., and nine other people are scheduled to be put to
death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of
executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in
2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to
death.
Black's condition
Black had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, which is a
small, battery-powered electronic device that is surgically
implanted in the chest. It served as a pacemaker and an emergency
defibrillator. Black’s attorneys have said a doctor can send it a
deactivation command without surgery.
The legal case also spurred a reminder that most medical
professionals consider participation in executions a violation of
health care ethics.
Intellectual disability claim
In recent years, Black's legal team has unsuccessfully tried to get
a new hearing about an intellectual disability they say he's
exhibited since childhood. People with intellectual disabilities are
constitutionally barred from execution.
His attorneys have said that if they had delayed a prior attempt to
seek his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared
under a 2021 state law. That is because the 2021 law denies a
hearing to people on death row who have already filed a similar
request and a court has ruled on it “on the merits."
A judge denied Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk's attempt to
get Black a new hearing. Funk focused on input from an expert for
the state in 2004 who determined back then that Black didn’t meet
the criteria for what was then called "mental retardation.” But she
concluded that Black met the new law’s criteria for a diagnosis of
intellectual disability.
___
Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this
story.
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