Death row inmate Tony Carruthers was bleeding and groaning in a botched execution in Tennessee, a witness said. Lawyers for other death row inmates say this raises “grave concerns.”
Tennessee to execute woman for first time in 200 years
If Christa Pike is executed, she will be the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in 200 years and the 19th woman in modern U.S. history.
Tony Carruthers lay strapped to the gallows in Tennessee’s death chamber for more than an hour as his executioners struggled to find a vein. They examined his arms, shoulders, legs, chest and the jugular vein in his neck, a witness in the room told USA TODAY.
The process left Carruthers bleeding and groaning on May 21, said witness Maria Deliberato, senior adviser for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Death Penalty Project. The state ultimately halted the execution, and in an unusual move, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee gave Carruthers a one-year suspended sentence.
But Tennessee plans to execute at least three more people this year, including the state’s first female death row inmate in more than 200 years. Lawyers for inmates have called for a moratorium on executions in the state, saying Carruthers’ botched execution raises concerns about what will happen to their clients in the event of an execution.
“Last week’s botched execution raises serious concerns about the state’s ability to prevent another tortuous execution,” attorney Stephen Ferrell told USA TODAY in a statement this week.
Mr. Ferrell represents Krista Pike, who is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Tennessee on September 30th for luring 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into the woods of Knoxville on January 12, 1995, and killing her over a prolonged period of time. The murder made national headlines for its brutality.
Lawyers for Gary Wayne Sutton, another Tennessee inmate scheduled to be executed in December, also said they were “deeply concerned.”
“What happened is deeply disturbing and highlights many of the concerns that defense attorneys, medical experts, and defense attorneys have raised over the years regarding Tennessee’s execution protocols and the errors that consistently accompany them,” Sutton’s attorneys, Cindy Anderson and Jonah Henry, told USA TODAY in a statement.
Here’s what else you need to know about Carruthers’ execution failure and how it could affect future executions in Tennessee.
What happened during Tony Carruthers’ botched execution?
Death row inmates are not guaranteed a painless death, but the U.S. Constitution requires that death row inmates be free from “cruel and unusual punishment.” The state of Tennessee breached its obligations during the lengthy process to discover Tony Carruthers’ two veins, his lawyers argue.
Carruthers is on death row after being convicted of three murders on February 24, 1994, as part of a planned drug takeover near Memphis. Two of the victims were shot dead and one innocent housewife was buried alive.
The infamous Memphis case drew national attention in the lead-up to the execution, as Carruthers fought for forensic evidence and fingerprints that his lawyers said could prove his innocence. Kim Kardashian called on Lee to postpone the execution for testing, and the American Civil Liberties Union joined the fight.
Lee granted a postponement of the execution on May 21. At first, the execution appeared typical, with medical personnel finding one of Carruther’s veins within minutes. What proved impossible for them was finding a second vein.
“When a vein could not be found, the emotional distress was immediately evident,” Deliberato said. “He was sweating and turned pale…and it was an unimaginable physical pain.”
She said Carruthers felt the most pain when a doctor tried to insert a central line into his chest five minutes after giving the inmate the painkiller lidocaine.
“He picked up a scalpel and started pushing on Tony’s chest, and I asked Tony if he could feel it, and he said, ‘It hurts, it hurts,'” DiLiberato said. “He did it anyway, and that’s when Tony started making throat sounds…Tony was in pain and there was a lot of blood.”
After that didn’t work, they tried to find a vein in one of Carruther’s shoulders, she said, but shortly afterward the warden called to announce the execution had been halted. The governor’s office then announced that Carruthers would be given a one-year reprieve.
Defense lawyers request a moratorium on Tennessee’s death penalty
Tennessee attorneys are asking the state to halt executions of inmates until an ongoing lawsuit over lethal injection protocols is resolved. Lawyers for nine death row inmates filed the lawsuit in March 2025, months after Tennessee announced a new protocol requiring the use of one drug, pentobarbital.
The new protocols were announced after Governor Lee suspended all executions in the state in 2022, granting a temporary reprieve to death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith due to a “technical oversight” in the lethal injection process. At the time, Lee said the moratorium on executions would allow time for an independent review of the state’s protocols.
“I have reviewed each death penalty case and believe it is an appropriate punishment for a heinous crime,” Lee said in a statement at the time. “However, the death penalty is a very serious issue, and I hope that the Tennessee Department of Corrections leaves no doubt that the process will be done correctly.”
The state resumed capital punishment three years later, executing Smith in May 2025. The state also executed Harold Nichols and Byron Lewis Black last year.
Lawyers for death row inmates argue that pentobarbital can prolong an execution by as much as 20 minutes, during which time the inmate may remain conscious and undergo a type of “waterboarding,” or “a clear form of torture.”
Lawyers who filed the lawsuit held a news conference this week and said the failed execution of Carruthers confirmed their predictions about the use of pentobarbital and showed that Tennessee was using poorly trained personnel to carry out the death penalty.
Amy Harwell, a federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee, said the Department of Corrections “chose to ignore the warnings, and Mr. Carruthers suffered as a result.”
“They subjected him to over an hour and a half of torture as incompetent medical personnel attempted to install an IV line,” Harwell said. “They poked and prodded and prodded him about a dozen times.”
DiLiberato said Carruthers remains in mental pain and suffering and is fighting to have her diagnosed by an independent doctor.
“You can imagine what happens when you lie to someone. It will take a long time to recover,” DiLiberato said. “Given how incompetently and brutally Tony’s execution failed, it would be unconscionable for the state to continue with the death penalty. If ever there was a sign for the state to press the pause button, it was what happened last Thursday.”
What is the state saying about future executions?
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office and press secretary Elizabeth Johnson have not responded to USA TODAY’s repeated requests for comment, including questions about whether the state will move forward with other executions this year and, if so, whether any changes will be made to avoid another botched execution.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections, which carries out executions in the state, also did not respond to questions. The state attorney general’s office reported all comments to the governor’s office and the Department of Corrections.
For now, the execution remains scheduled. Anthony Hines, who killed 54-year-old Katherine Jean Jenkins on August 13, 1985. Krista Pike is charged with the September 30th murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemer. Gary Wayne Sutton on December 3rd for the 1992 murder of Tommy Griffin.
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter covering capital punishment, cold cases and breaking news for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat
