Death row inmate Byron Black executed in Nashville
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Convicted murderer Byron Black was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday, Aug. 5, in what experts believe is the first execution of a death row inmate with a working heart-regulating device.

Black was convicted in the 1988 murders of his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two young daughters, LaToya and LaKeisha. The three were reportedly shot and killed in a Nashville home.

The execution was scheduled for 10 a.m. and Black was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

A witness of the execution reported that Black had no last statements and at 10:33 a.m. he told an advisor, “It’s hurting so bad,” and began groaning in pain.

News 2’s Tori Gessner, who was also a witness of the execution, added that Black’s spiritual advisor mentioned the victims by name in prayer.

There were several legal debates ahead of Black’s execution, with attorneys arguing that the 69-year-old suffered from dementia and severe brain damage, making him no longer mentally competent to be executed. Additionally, the inmate’s legal team argued that his implanted heart-regulating device should be deactivated to avoid a “torturous death.”

However, on Thursday, July 31, a judge ruled in the state’s favor to execute Black without deactivating his heart implant.

The Associated Press reported that Black’s execution was likely the first time a person was put to death with a working defibrillator. The Death Penalty Information Center and Black’s attorney said they were unable to find evidence of any other case in which a person on death row made similar claims about defibrillators or pacemakers.

On Monday, Aug. 4, the United States Supreme Court denied all applications for a stay of execution and petitions for writ of certiorari. Additionally, Gov. Lee later released a statement Monday evening stating he would not intervene.

After learning that Lee would refuse to intervene and the U.S. Supreme Court denied all appeals, the Death Penalty Action released the following statement:

We already know that the cruelty is the point when it comes to how we treat the prisoners, but I wonder about the lifelong trauma that prison workers are taking on by killing a man like Byron Black. It would be one thing if he was any sort of threat, but this 69 year old man is physically helpless with his various medical conditions, and mentally he is like a child. Add to the mix the question of how his implanted defibrillator will react. The world is watching. This is an ugly moment for Tennessee.

Death Penalty Action Executive Director Abraham Bonowitz

After Black was executed, a spokesperson for TDOC’s Victim Services read a statement on behalf of the victims’ family:

I thank God for this day, a day that was a long time coming. Thirty-seven years is too long and it’s not our fault. He got to take that up with the master, the redeemer, he brought this on himself. I’m thankful and grateful to see this day. The load and burden that has been lifted off our hearts, not just me, but my family. I thank God for making this happen. His family is going through the same thing now that we went through 37 years ago. I can’t say I’m sorry because we never got an apology. He never apologized and never admitted it, even on his dying bed, and he knows he did it. This is closure for my family, my sister and her two daughters can finally rest in peace.

Linette Bell

Black’s attorney also released a statement, which reads, in part:

What happened here was the result of pure, unbridled bloodlust and cowardice. It was the brutal and unchecked abuse of government power. It was the result of a failed criminal legal system that countenanced, even rewarded, attorneys who told half-truths and untruths.

Today, the State of Tennessee killed a gentle, kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in violation of the laws of our country simply because they could. No one in a position of power, certainly not the courts, was willing to stop them.

And if you think that what happened is just about one man, you are wrong. We are witnessing the erosion of the rule of law and every principle of human decency on which this country was founded. Today, it is Byron. Tomorrow, it will be someone you care about.

The people who made this happen are not telling the public the truth. They should feel shame, but they seem incapable.

Kelley Henry, Attorney for Byron Black

According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, Black selected pizza with mushrooms and sausage, donuts, and butter pecan ice cream for his last meal on Monday.

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