Tennessee readies for execution of man with working implanted defibrillator
Gov. Bill Lee declined Monday to grant a reprieve, clearing the way for Byron Black's execution after a legal battle and ongoing uncertainty about whether the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator will shock his heart when the lethal drug takes effect.
The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it's unaware of any other cases in which a person on death row made similar claims to Black 's about defibrillators or pacemakers. Black's attorneys said they haven't found a comparable case, either.
Lee said the courts have "universally determined that it is lawful to carry out the jury's sentence of execution given to Mr. Black for the heinous murders of Angela Clay and her daughters Lakeisha, age 6, and Latoya, age 9."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Black's appeals. The execution would be Tennessee's second since May, after a pause for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps by state corrections officials.
Twenty-seven men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and nine other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death.
Black's condition
Black, 69, is in a wheelchair, and he has dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, his attorneys have said.
The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator he has is a small, battery-powered electronic device that is surgically implanted in the chest. It serves as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. Black's attorneys say in order to be sure it's off, a doctor must place a programming device over the implant site, sending it a deactivation command, with no surgery required.
In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Black's attorneys that officials must have his device deactivated to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. But the state Supreme Court intervened July 31 to overturn that decision, saying the other judge lacked the authority to order the change.
The state has disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black's defibrillator to shock him. Even if shocks were triggered, Black wouldn't feel them, the state said.
Black's attorneys have countered that even if the lethal drug being used, pentobarbital, renders someone unresponsive, they aren't necessarily unaware or unable to feel pain.
Kelley Henry, Black's attorney, said the execution could become a 'grotesque spectacle.'
The legal case also spurred a reminder that most medical professionals consider participation in executions a violation of health care ethics.
Black's case
Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters. Prosecutors said he was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting Clay's estranged husband.
Linette Bell, whose sister and two nieces were killed, recently told WKRN-TV: 'He didn't have mercy on them, so why should we have mercy on him?'
Intellectual disability claim
In recent years, Black's legal team has unsuccessfully tried to get a new hearing over whether he is intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty under U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
His attorneys have said that if they had delayed a prior attempt to seek his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared under a 2021 state law.
Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk contended in 2022 that Black is intellectually disabled and deserved a hearing under that 2021 law, but the judge denied it. That is because the 2021 law denies a hearing to people on death row who have already filed a similar request and a court has ruled on it 'on the merits."
In Funk's attempt, he focused on input from an expert for the state in 2004 who determined back then that Black didn't meet the criteria for what was then called "mental retardation.' But she concluded that Black met the new law's criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability.
Black also sought a determination by the courts that he is incompetent to be executed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Can't Look Away review – a harrowing, heartbreaking indictment of social media's ruthlessness
'Tweens are herd animals' and have 'an addicts' narrative', according to internal documents revealed by a Facebook whistleblower to congress, making clear the levels of cynicism and obfuscation the company operates with in its quest to hook young people to its platform. Bad though that is, it's not the worst example in this lucidly laid out and often harrowing indictment of social media's ruthlessness; that would be the proliferation of drug dealers on Snapchat, which the company seems to have to some extent turned a blind eye to in the scramble to expand its user base. Based on the investigative work of Bloomberg journalist Olivia Carville, this film covers the attempts of minnow legal outfit Social Media Victims Law Center to net the sharks of Silicon Valley. It represents a host of families who have suffered heartbreaking losses due to unpoliced extreme online content: children and teenagers who fatally copied auto-asphyxiation or pro-suicide videos, ones who killed themselves after falling victim to sextortionists, or who overdosed after buying off-prescription meds from predatory dealers. The battle here is to overcome section 230, a get-out clause in the 1996 Telecommunication Act that gives social media companies immunity for third-party-generated content. Of course, Mark Zuckerberg was still slurping Slush Puppies back then. Matthew Bergman, the center's founder, twice makes the analogy with cigarette companies, arguing that social media companies knowingly prioritise profit over the health of their users. If the film is clear about this causation and the resulting damage, it is not a given that the team can make a longer leap: from establishing a degree of culpability in individual cases and getting justice and closure for these families, to proving that the tech companies systematically predicate their algorithms on fanning our most negative tendencies and impulses. The big victory here is stopping the Snapchat case being dismissed due to section 230; more of a minor triumph that shows the scale of the mountain, but you have to start somewhere. This is a vital piece of public-interest journalism clearly spelling out what we all vaguely intuited. Can't Look Away is in UK cinemas and on Jolt from 8 August In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@ and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Daughter of priest, 20, released from ICE detention after arrest during routine court hearing
A Purdue University student and the daughter of a pioneering Episcopal priest has finally been released after she was arrested and placed into custody after attending what was supposed to be a routine immigration court hearing. Yeonsoo Go, 20, who arrived in the US from South Korea in 2021 on an R-2 visa, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last Thursday outside the federal courthouse at Federal Plaza in Manhattan. On Monday, there were scenes of joy just after 8pm as mother and daughter were reunited at the very same place where her arrest took place - 26 Federal Plaza. Photographers were there to capture the moment as tears flowed between the two women who ran into each other's outstretched arms and embraced one another. Days earlier Go was arrested by ICE. The move ignited fury across faith communities, civil rights groups, and Korean American advocacy organizations. Go's attorney insisted her visa is active and valid through the end of this year, while the Department of Homeland Security says it expired more than two years ago. Monday evening's release came after protests this past weekend outside of the Lower Manhattan federal building. 'Everything just feels surreal,' said Go to PIX11 as she was walked out of federal detention with her mother, Rev. Kyrie Kim and headed back to Scarsdale, New York. 'I was praying hard,' she said when asked her detention at Federal Plaza and in Louisiana where she also spent several days. Her mother Rev. Kyrie Kim, is a trailblazing Episcopal priest and first woman ordained in the Seoul Diocese of the Anglican Church of Korea. She is working in Scarsdale on a visa sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the United States. Go, who graduated from Scarsdale High last year is currently a college student at Purdue University and had been in the country on a religious dependent visa, since 2021. Rev. Kim noted how so many other detainees are not as fortunate as her daughter. 'It's not [just] Soo in this situation,' Rev. Kim said. 'There are more, maybe, those in need of support. 'I'm just happy that she's with me,' she said. Church leaders and elected officials had been pushing for Go's release with another rally planned for Thursday. Mary Rothwell Davis, attorney for the Episcopal Diocese of New York, told 13News Go was released to her mother on her own recognizance, but did not know any other terms of the release. 'We are hopeful she will be back at Purdue in the next few weeks,' she said. Rothwell Davis also said Go was given a hearing date for her visa status in late August. Go was arrested last Thursday after what she thought had been a regular immigration meeting. But as she left the courtroom ICE agents were waiting for her outside. According to advocacy groups and church leaders, five plainclothes officers surrounded Go and detained her. No warrant was presented at the scene, and she was not given the opportunity to speak further with her attorney. Last week, officials with the Department of Homeland Security offered a starkly different version of events. 'Yeonsoo Go, an illegal alien from South Korea, overstayed her visa that expired more than two years ago,' DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. 'President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the US. ICE arrested her on July 31 and placed her in expedited removal proceedings.' But her attorney said such assertion was false. No warrant was presented at the scene, and Go was not given the opportunity to speak further with her attorney before being taken away 'She has a valid visa that expires in December 2025, and she has a pending application for extension,' said a legal representative for Go. 'The judge was satisfied enough to continue the case until October. There was no indication that she was to be taken into custody.' Since her arrest, Go was held in an ICE holding facility at 26 Federal Plaza, a building that clergy say is unfit for human confinement. She was also moved to Louisiana before being brought back to New York. The incident has triggered an immediate wave of protests and condemnation from across the religious and immigrant rights landscape. On Saturday, faith leaders, elected officials, and immigration advocates stood shoulder-to-shoulder outside the ICE building in lower Manhattan to demanding her release. By Monday, their prayers were answered. 'We call for the end of weaponization in our courts,' Bishop Heyd declared to a crowd of supporters and reporters. 'We stand up for a New York and a country that respects the dignity of every person.' The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) joined the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Interfaith Center of New York to organize the press conference. Posters demanding Go's release were plastered on the courthouse fence, alongside flowers and handwritten notes of support from local high school classmates. Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of NYIC, warned others with pending hearings to be vigilant. 'I think it's critically important that anyone who needs to go to an immigration court hearing call the New York State Office of New Americans and their hotline,' Awawdeh said. 'Make a family preparedness plan. If possible, work with a lawyer to set up a virtual hearing.' Korean American community leaders say the episode is part of a disturbing trend of rising enforcement actions targeting Korean nationals regardless of their legal status. Go's case echoes the recent detention of Tae Heung Will Kim, a Korean green card holder and Texas resident who was taken into custody at San Francisco International Airport last month. Kim, a Ph.D. student, was held at the airport for more than a week before being transferred to an ICE facility in Arizona. His family has not received information about his condition or location. As outrage builds, activists are demanding urgent federal oversight and accountability for what they say is a pattern of unjustified enforcement.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Girl's family give heartbreaking update after she was severely injured in Miami boat crash that killed her 3 young friends
The family of one of three survivors from a horrific Miami boat crash has provided a heartbreaking update on the young girl's recovery. Calena Areyana Gruber, seven, was onboard a sailboat with five other campers at the Miami Youth Sailing Foundation summer camp and their 19-year-old counselor, when it collided with a 60-foot barge being pulled by a tugboat in Biscayne Bay on July 28. The impact from the crash left the 17-foot Hobie Getaway sinking underneath the barge, but Gruber was able to swim out to save her life, an attorney representing the family told the Miami Herald. She was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition, but has since been released and is now recovering at home. Her family, though, says they still have a long road ahead of them as Gruber continues to have 'open lacerations and scrapes' all over her body. 'This little 7-year-old girl is devastated by what happened, both physically and emotionally,' attorney Justin B. Shapiro said in a statement, according to NBC South Florida. 'She was acutely aware that she could have died and she repeats that to her parents, and so it's going to be a long and difficult road for her. 'Her parents, of course, are committed to getting her all of the help and care that she needs,' he added, 'but seven-year-old children are not equipped to deal with this kind of trauma and so it's going to be a lot of work.' Still, he said, Gruber's parents - Karina Gruber Moreno and Enrique Areyan Viqueira - 'know that we could have been having a very different conversation today' and 'know that we're fortunate to still have Calena with us.' Two other young girls onboard the sailboat, Erin Co, 13, and seven-year-old Mila Yankelevich, died on their way to Ryder Trauma Center, with a Medical Examiner declaring they died of accidental drowning despite wearing life jackets. A third girl, Arielle Mazi Bucham, 10, was rushed to the trauma center in critical condition alongside Gruber, but has since succumbed to her injuries. The camp counselor and another girl, aged 12, walked away unharmed. In their own statement on Monday, Gruber Moreno and Areyan Viqueira said they are 'deeply moved and incredibly grateful for the outpouring of prayers and kindness we have received from the community.' They added that they were heartbroken for the families who lost their daughters in the crash, as they shared a photo of Calena arriving to camp on the fateful day. 'This is a deeply harrowing reminder of how suddenly and senselessly life can change,' the family's statement read. 'In an instant, what should have been a day of joy and connection on the water turned into a source of unimaginable grief,' the couple said, as they 'respectfully' asked for privacy 'as we focus on healing and processing this difficult situation.' The United States Coast Guard is now continuing to investigate what may have caused the fatal collision. Officials have already determined that both boat captains' toxicology reports came back negative, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed on Friday. 'I can confirm alcohol and drug testing was completed for both individuals onboard the tug and barge as well as the sailboat operator. All results were negative,' a spokesperson with the federal agency said. Authorities also previously stated that the barge was supporting construction work in the Miami Beach area before the fatal collision. It was transporting a large crane parked in front of the pilot house at the time of the collision, leading to speculation the crane may have obstructed the tugboat operator's vision, the Herald reports. A loophole in Coast Guard boating regulations may have also contributed to the crash. According to the regulations, commercial tugboats that are under 26 feet in length do not require an operator to be a licensed captain. Coast Guard officials have not yet confirmed how large the tugboat was, but a review of photos and an analysis by two AI tools estimate the ship was under 26 feet. The sunken sailboat is seen after being recovered from the water The Coast Guard's navigation rules also stipulate that sailboats generally have the right of way over motorboats - but must yield to a vessel that is 'restricted in its ability to maneuver.' It is now believed Coast Guard officials will work to determine whether the tugboat was restricted in its movement as part of the investigation. Yet Miami Yacht Club member Katie Flood-Reiss has said that the sailboat's 19-year-old instructor would have had no chance of evading the barge in the bay. 'In those conditions, with almost no wind, it would have been impossible to turn that sailboat around quickly,' she explained. The investigation into the fatal collision may now take several months to complete. In the meantime, Gruber's family is pushing for changes to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. Attorney Shapiro noted that waterways in Florida, the boating capital of the world, have become a 'lawless sanctuary.' 'Our clients want answers of course, but first and foremost our clients want this to never happen again,' he said. 'We need to shine a spotlight on this so that we can learn every possible lesson from this. 'We cannot have this collision in vain, we need to learn from it and we need to make our waterways safer by any means necessary,' he urged.
