A recent decision from the Supreme Court of Tennessee has paved the way for the execution of an elderly death row inmate with serious cognitive and medical impairments, despite unresolved concerns about the role his cardiac device may play in prolonging his death.
“Unless the governor grants a reprieve or we get review from the Supreme Court, the state of Tennessee will torture my client to death next week,” said Kelley Henry, the man’s public defender, in a statement to The Washington Post.
Byron Black, 68, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday for the 1988 murders of his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters, Latoya and Lakeisha.
Black, who uses a wheelchair, suffers from multiple health conditions including dementia and what his attorneys say is a severe intellectual disability. He also has an implanted cardiac device, which they argue could complicate his execution.
His legal team had petitioned Tennessee courts to authorize removal or deactivation of the device ahead of the lethal injection, fearing it could trigger electric shocks during the process — potentially violating constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
A lower court agreed and directed state officials to arrange for a qualified medical professional to disable the device the morning of the execution. Tennessee challenged the decision, leading to a reversal by the state’s high court on Thursday. The justices ruled the lower court had overstepped by imposing logistical constraints on the execution, thereby lifting the injunction that had delayed the process.
Meanwhile, Nashville General Hospital, which provides medical services for Black, denied state claims that it would assist in disabling the cardiac device.
“Our contract with the correctional healthcare provider is to support the ongoing medical care of its patients,” hospital spokesperson Cathy Poole told The Associated Press. “This request is well outside of that agreement and would also require cooperation with several other entities, all of which have indicated they are unwilling to participate.”
Following the court’s decision, Black’s attorneys filed an immediate motion for a stay. Relief may still come if the governor commutes his sentence, or if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case.
In their federal appeal, Black’s lawyers argue he has an IQ below 70 — the standard threshold for an intellectual disability — and contend he would not be eligible for the death penalty if convicted under current law. Though state law permits death row prisoners to challenge their sentences on intellectual disability grounds, Black’s last state appeal was in 2004, well before he was officially recognized as intellectually disabled.
“Here we have an individual who by everyone’s evaluation is someone who is intellectually disabled,” Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told The Tennessean. “He’s in a wheelchair. He’s 69 years old and suffering from dementia and a number of other physical ailments. This isn’t the image that most people have when we think about who we are reserving for the death penalty.”
“This is exactly the kind of situation for which clemency was created,” she added.
The Independent has reached out to the Tennessee Department of Correction, as well as the offices of the governor and attorney general, for comment.
According to reports, Black has selected his final meal: pizza with mushrooms and sausage, donuts, and butter pecan ice cream.
He is also part of a broader legal challenge to Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, though that case won’t go to trial until 2026.
Tennessee resumed executions earlier this year after a nearly five-year hiatus prompted first by the COVID-19 pandemic and later by procedural failures in the state’s execution protocol.
