On Tuesday, August 5, 2025, Byron Black, a 69-year-old Tennessee death row inmate, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison. The execution, which has since sparked national debate and renewed scrutiny of Tennessee's death penalty procedures, drew attention not only for Black's crimes but also for the unusual medical and legal circumstances surrounding his final moments.
Black’s story is, in many ways, a grim reflection of the complexities and ongoing controversies that surround capital punishment in the United States. Convicted in 1988 for the shooting deaths of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6, Black was on work-release for shooting Clay’s estranged husband at the time of the murders, according to The Associated Press. Prosecutors described the killings as the result of a jealous rage. The brutality of the crime ensured that Black would spend the next several decades fighting his conviction and, ultimately, his execution.
Yet, as the date of his execution approached, the focus shifted from his crimes to his health and the method of execution. Black suffered from a host of serious medical conditions, including dementia, kidney disease, brain damage, congestive heart failure, and an intellectual disability with an IQ below 70, as noted in court records reported by The Associated Press. His attorneys argued that these conditions, particularly his intellectual disability, should have rendered him ineligible for execution. They pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court had not banned the execution of intellectually disabled individuals until 2002—years after Black was sentenced under older, less protective standards.
Adding to the legal turmoil was Black’s implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a device designed to prevent sudden cardiac death by delivering electrical shocks to restart the heart if needed. Black’s attorneys raised alarms that the ICD, if left active, might deliver painful, unnecessary shocks during the administration of the lethal injection drugs, potentially prolonging his suffering. This concern led to a first-of-its-kind legal battle in Tennessee over whether the device should be deactivated before the execution.
Initially, a trial court judge sided with Black’s legal team, ordering the device to be turned off. However, just days before the execution, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed that decision, ruling that the lower court judge lacked the authority to issue such an order. The state, for its part, argued that the lethal dose of pentobarbital would render Black unconscious within 20 to 30 seconds, making it impossible for him to feel any pain or electrical shocks from the device.
On the day of the execution, all eyes were on how the process would unfold. According to seven media witnesses present in the chamber, Black showed clear signs of distress after the intravenous drugs began to flow. He lifted his head off the gurney, groaned, and uttered, “It’s hurting so bad,” before sighing and breathing heavily. The witnesses were unanimous: Black appeared to be in significant discomfort.
His spiritual adviser, the Rev. Monica Coakley, was present in the chamber, singing to Black and touching his face in an attempt to comfort him. At one point, she responded to his cries of pain with, “I’m so sorry. Just listen to my voice,” as reported by The Associated Press. Black, strapped to the gurney with a sheet covering his lower half, had IV lines in both arms. His last words, when asked for a final statement before the execution began, were simply, “No sir.”
The execution process lasted roughly ten minutes, with Black pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m., according to prison officials and journalist witnesses cited by Fox News and The Associated Press.
In the aftermath, Black’s attorney, Kelley Henry, confirmed that early data retrieved from the ICD indicated it had not shocked him during the execution. “The ICD information eliminates one possible cause for Black’s comment about pain during his execution Tuesday, and other actions such as when he picked his head up off the gurney and groaned,” Henry said in a statement. However, she insisted that “many questions remain unanswered.”
Henry’s statement was unequivocal: “Make no mistake, we all saw with our own eyes that the pentobarbital did not work like the State’s expert testified that it would. Mr. Black suffered.” She and her team are now seeking further information, including Black’s electrocardiograph readings taken during the execution, and have ordered a full autopsy, the results of which are expected to be released in eight to twelve weeks. The legal team has also initiated public records requests in an effort to piece together exactly what happened in Black’s final moments.
The Tennessee Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, responded to the controversy by emphasizing the legality of the execution. “Byron Black’s execution was entirely legal,” Skrmetti said in a statement. He pointed out that the lack of a defibrillator shock was “just as the state’s medical expert predicted and entirely contrary to the confident predictions of Black’s expert.” Skrmetti added, “Every American has the right to their own opinion about the death penalty, but courts rely on actual facts and actual law, not on theatrics and passion.”
Yet, the questions swirling around Black’s execution are unlikely to dissipate quickly. The lawsuit filed by Black and eight other Tennessee death row inmates against the state’s use of pentobarbital remains ongoing, with the plaintiffs arguing that the drug creates a “high risk of a torturous death.” Black was the second plaintiff in that suit to be executed before the trial, scheduled for January, could begin.
Media witnesses, including Steve Cavendish, editor of the Nashville Banner, described the scene as “unanimous” in their assessment that Black was in distress. The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center noted that Black’s case was unprecedented in its combination of medical and legal complications, particularly regarding the active ICD. Black’s attorneys stated they had not found a comparable case involving a functioning heart device left on during lethal injection.
As Tennessee awaits the results of the autopsy and further investigation, the execution of Byron Black stands as a stark reminder of the unresolved debates over capital punishment, the ethics of lethal injection, and the rights of the medically vulnerable on death row. For now, the state insists it acted within the law, but for many observers, the haunting image of a man crying out, “It’s hurting so bad,” will linger long after the official records have been closed.
