Tennessee Executes Black Man With a Heart Device— What His Lawyer Says Happened Next Was ‘Torture’

A Black man in Tennessee just became the 28th person in the U.S. to be executed this year. But now, his lawyer claims her client was unnecessarily “tortured” and that the state let it happen.

Bryon Black, 69, was on death row since being convicted of a triple homicide in the ’80s. Although he maintained his innocence, on Tuesday (Aug. 5), he was given lethal injection which some have called unethical, BBC reported. This came after the state refused to deactivate Black’s implanted defibrillator, despite growing concerns that the device would cause unnecessary complications during the injection process.

Around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Black was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison, according to the Nashville Banner. But minutes after the dose, Black began complaining of severe pain, which is not supposed to happen. All seven witnesses present claimed Black was clearly in distress.

“Oh, it’s hurting so bad,” Black reportedly said minutes after being given the dose. He repeatedly lifted his head sighing and groaning, and then Black was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. According to the Nashville Banner, Black’s attorney Kelley Henry said, “Today, the state of Tennessee killed a gentle, kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in a violation of the laws of our country simply because they could.”

The 69-year-old was in a wheelchair and was suffering from kidney failure, brain damage, dementia, heart failure and more. An autopsy will be performed to get to the bottom of what exactly caused the complications to happen.

Back-and-forths in the Courts

Black’s case first made headlines after a trial court judge ruled that his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) should be turned off at the time of the lethal injection, the Associated Press reported. That was mid-July, but a couple weeks later on Thursday (July 31), Tennessee’s Supreme Court overturned that decision, ruling the other judge had no authority to order the change.

The Supreme Court agreed that Black’s medical device would not impact the result of the lethal dose. Now, Black’s lawyer argues that clearly wasn’t the case. “The fact that he was able to raise his head several times and express pain tells you that the pentobarbital was not acting the way the state’s experts claim it acts,” Henry said.

Convicted of Triple Homicide

Black was convicted for the 1988 shooting of his then-girlfriend, Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. Prosecutors said Black went into a rage and had a history of violence. At the time of the shooting, Black was on work-release for the shooting of Clay’s ex-husband, AP reported.

The victim’s sister, Linette Bell, showed no remorse after Black was pronounced dead. “His family is now going through the same thing we went through 37 years ago,” she said in a written statement. “I can’t say I’m sorry because we never got an apology.”