A triple-killer is set to be the first man executed with a working defibrillator in his chest when he’s put to death in Tennessee today.
Byron Black’s bid to delay the execution was denied on Monday, and he will now be killed by lethal injection.
There is uncertainty over whether the device will shock his heart, potentially prolonging his death and causing suffering when the deadly cocktail takes effect.
The 69-year-old is in a wheelchair and is said to have dementia, kidney failure, brain damage and congestive heart failure.
His cardioverter-defibrillator is a battery-powered device that delivers electric shocks to restore a regular heartbeat if needed.
Black’s lawyers said a doctor should put a device over the implant to ensure it’s switched off, and in July, a judge agreed it was necessary to avert the chance of unnecessary pain.
But the state Supreme Court said last week the judge lacked authority to order the defibrillator to be deactivated.
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Lawyers representing Tennessee have argued that the lethal injection will not cause the device to shock Black and that he would not feel it even if it did.
However, his lawyer, Kelley Henry, said the execution could become a “grotesque spectacle” and Black could still be in pain even if he looks unresponsive.
Black shot dead his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters – aged six and nine – in a jealous rage in 1988.
He committed the murders while on work release for shooting Clay’s estranged husband.
Linette Bell, whose sister and two nieces were killed, recently told local station WKRN-TV: “He didn’t have mercy on them, so why should we have mercy on him?”
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Black’s lawyers have also unsuccessfully tried in recent years to save him from execution by arguing he’s intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty under US Supreme Court precedent.
Twenty-seven men have been executed in the US so far this year – the highest since the 28 killed in 2015.
However, nine others are scheduled before the end of 2025.
