(The Center Square) – Byron Lewis Black, convicted for the 1988 shooting death of his girlfriend and her two young children, was executed in Tennessee on Tuesday morning. He was 69.
Black died by lethal injection at 10:43 Central time, the state said in a news release.
The death-row inmate was confined to a wheelchair and suffered from dementia and congestive heart failure, the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said.
The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal on the grounds the death by lethal injection is unconstitutional as applied to because he had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
“He argued the lethal dose of pentobarbital will trigger the ICD, prolong his execution, and inflict extreme pain in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” a Supreme Court summary of the appeal stated.
A lower court issued a temporary injunction, ruling that the ICD would have to be deactivated before Black was executed. The Tennessee Supreme Court later lifted that injunction.
The state said Black would not suffer because he would be unconscious, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
State officials also indicated “that they are unable to locate medical professionials willing to deactivate the device,” the nonprofit group said.
Physicians are prohibited from participating in executions under the American Code of Medical Ethics, the Center said on its website.
Witnesses to the execution said Black was “sighing” and “groaning” during the execution, and said, “It’s hurting so bad.”
The inmate showed “clear, audible signs of distress” for several minutes, “ the Death Penalty Information Center said.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting comment from the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 28 executions so far this year in the United States and 1,635 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
