MORE INFORMATION — The Tennessee Supreme Court has vacated a temporary injunction that would have required state officials to deactivate a death-row inmate’s implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) prior to his execution. Byron Lewis Black, who is scheduled to be executed on August 5, 2025, had challenged Tennessee’s single-drug lethal injection protocol, arguing that the use of pentobarbital would trigger his ICD and cause extreme pain in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

69-Year-old Black, who has been on death row for over three decades following convictions for the 1989 murders of his girlfriend and her two daughters, sought temporary relief from the Davidson County Chancery Court. He requested that the state be required to deactivate his ICD immediately before or during the lethal injection process. After hearing expert testimony, the trial court ruled in Black’s favor, initially ordering that medical personnel deactivate the device moments before the injection. The order was later modified to allow the procedure to take place on the morning of the execution.

The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) opposed the order and filed for an extraordinary appeal, arguing that the trial court lacked the authority to impose conditions on an execution order issued by the state’s highest court. The department also stated that Nashville General Hospital, which oversees Black’s medical care, was unwilling to perform the deactivation at the prison but would do so at the hospital on the day before the execution. Black refused that alternative.

The Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction over the appeal and concluded that the lower court overstepped its authority. The opinion stated that orders regarding executions are exclusively under the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, and any modification or stay must be issued by this Court or, in appropriate cases, by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The justices determined that the injunction imposed a precondition on the execution and effectively operated as a stay, which the trial court lacked the authority to grant. While the ruling does not prohibit the parties from reaching a mutual agreement regarding ICD deactivation, the injunction requiring its deactivation on the date of the execution has been vacated.

As a result, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its previous order directing the Warden of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution to carry out the execution of Byron Lewis Black on August 5, 2025, unless a stay is issued by the state or a federal court. Any such order must be promptly submitted to the Office of the Appellate Court Clerk and forwarded to the warden.

The Court's opinion is final, not subject to rehearing, and will be published as designated under the rules governing the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Black remains behind bars at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville, TN.

Source:  No. M2025-01095-SC-RDO-CV