Tennessee executes man with implanted heart device despite concerns over shock risk

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Tue Aug 5, 2025, 08:56 PM - Edit history (1)

U.S.
Tennessee executes man with implanted heart device despite concerns over shock risk

Updated on: August 5, 2025 / 2:39 PM EDT / CBS/AP

An inmate executed by Tennessee without deactivating his implanted defibrillator said he was hurting badly shortly after the lethal injection began, according to several witnesses.

Byron Black was put to death despite uncertainty about whether the device would shock his heart when the lethal chemicals took effect. His 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. … Black looked around the room as the execution started and could be heard sighing and breathing heavily. All seven media witnesses to the execution agreed he appeared to be in discomfort.

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.

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[Tom Dyer]

1. So...No more crime!!! I can't... I just can't...

[Callie1979]

2. Maybe read the ACTUAL suffering the 2 young girls & 29yr old woman went thru 37yrs ago

Mind you, the young girls were 9 & 6

He entered Angela's Nashville dwelling at 1101 Wade Avenue, Apartment B, and killed all three inhabitants. Both Angela and Latoya were shot inside the master bedroom, with Angela being shot once in the head while she slept, dying within minutes. Latoya was shot in the neck and chest from about 24 inches, dying in three to ten minutes.

Inside the second bedroom, Lakeisha was shot in the chest and the pelvic area. Forensic examination showed that she tried to defend herself before being shot from a distance of six to 12 inches, dying from the gunshot wound to her chest between five and 30 minutes later.