Death row inmate with heart implant reported pain as he was executed
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A lethal injection gurney in Texas. Photo: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers via Getty
Tennessee death row inmate Byron Black moaned and said he was in pain during his execution, according to reporters who witnessed the lethal injection Tuesday morning.
- Black's attorney said his distress was evidence he was "tortured." Black's legal team had argued his heart implant could create unconstitutional pain during the execution.
At one point, Black told his spiritual adviser, who was with him, it was "hurting so bad," according to witness accounts.
- Prison officials took Black into the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution shortly after 10am. He was declared dead at 10:43am.
- Multiple media witnesses said Black appeared to be in more distress than inmate Oscar Franklin Smith, who was put to death by lethal injection earlier this year.
The big picture: Black's attorneys asked multiple courts to delay the execution so doctors could deactivate a medical device implanted last year to keep his heart beating normally.
- The lawyers said the device could deliver painful repeated shocks in an attempt to restore Black's heartbeat. They argued that would amount to cruel and unusual punishment that violated the U.S. Constitution.
- They had also fought to stop the execution because of Black's intellectual disability. Prosecutors agreed the new state standards would make Black ineligible for the death penalty if he were tried today.
Black, 69, was sentenced to death for the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two young daughters, 9-year-old Latoya and 6-year-old Lakeisha.
- The Clay family, which provided a statement after the execution, said "a load and burden that has been lifted off our hearts."
"This is closure for my family," Clay's sister wrote in the statement. "My sister and her two daughters can finally rest in peace."
What she's saying: Federal public defender Kelley Henry, who represented Black, said the state had "heartlessly and intentionally traumatized a second family today. A family that matters. A family that is devastated."
- She said the legal team would seek access to the medical implant and EKG records from the execution.